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"How much did Father Christmas's sled cost? Nothing, it was on the house."

This quip is met by moans that echo through a storage facility in the capital.

We're at a humor-evaluation meeting with a company that produces products for gatherings. Its repertoire includes festive crackers.

The company's founder smiles, almost apologetically at the gag. But the pun has been selected and will appear in upcoming crackers.

"You measure the joke by the volume of groans and the loudness of the groans around the table," the founder explains.

The key to a good holiday cracker pun is not the identical as a good joke per se. It is all about the setting - in this instance, the communal amusement of the Christmas dinner table with elders, children and possibly neighbours.

"The goal is for the joke to be a thing that unites the child together with the 80-year-old," she states.

The Science Behind Shared Laughter

Gathering to enjoy communal laughter is not only nothing new, scientists say, it is probably to be older than humanity.

"So when you are chuckling with people around the Christmas dinner you are dropping into what's very likely a really primordial mammal play vocalisation," says a neuroscience expert.

Communal amusement, she explains, aids in forge and strengthen social bonds between individuals.

Researchers have found that a absence of these interactions can seriously harm both psychological and bodily health.

"The people you converse with, and share laughter with, it leads to increased amounts of 'happy chemical' uptake," she continues.

These natural chemicals are the body's "happy chemicals" and are released both to reduce tension and discomfort and in reaction to enjoyable experiences, such as chuckling with friends over a particularly awful festive cracker gag.

"You're not just laughing at a silly joke with a holiday cracker," the expert says. "You are actually doing a lot of the truly important work of making, maintaining the connections you have with those you care about."

Which Happens Inside the Mind?

But what is actually happening inside the brain when we listen to a gag?

A tremendous amount occurs in reaction to humour, it transpires.

Using brain scanning technology, a type of brain scanner which indicates which areas of the mind are more active, scientists have been able to chart the regions that get more blood.

The research involves scanning the brains of volunteer participants and then subjecting them to a database of humorous phrases, paired with either a non-emotional sound, or recorded laughter.

"In the scanner we observed a very interesting activation pattern of neural activity," notes the neuroscientist.

A joke stimulates not just the parts of the mind responsible for auditory processing and understanding language, but also neural areas involved in both preparation and starting movement and those involved in sight and memory.

Combine all of this as a whole, and individuals hearing a joke have a sophisticated series of neural responses that underpin the amusement we experience.

The Infectious Nature of Chuckles

Scientists discovered that when a humorous phrase is combined with laughter there is a greater reaction in the brain than the same phrase when followed by a non-emotional sound.

"This activation occurred in parts of the brain that you would employ to move your face into a smile or a chuckle," the professor explains.

It means we are not just reacting to humorous words, they are responding to the laughter that accompanies them.

Laughter, according to the professor, can be infectious.

So what does this mean for the laughter found around a holiday table?

"You laugh harder when you know people," she notes, "and laughter increases more when you are fond of them or love them."

When it comes to festive cracker jokes, she explains, the feel-good factor is more probable to be triggered not by the gag itself, but from the response to it.

"The laughter is key. The joke is the terrible holiday cracker joke, and it's just a reason to chuckle as a group."

The Search for the Ideal Cracker Joke

Will we ever find the ultimate gag?

Probably not, but that has not stopped researchers from attempting to.

Years ago, a professor established a research project for the planet's funniest gag.

Over 40,000 jokes later, with ratings lodged by hundreds of thousands of participants globally, he has a better understanding than most as to what works and what fails.

The perfect festive cracker pun must be brief, he explains.

"But they also be poor gags, jokes that make us groan," he adds.

The more "terrible" the joke, he says the more effective.

"This is because if nobody laughs – it's the joke's fault, not your own.

"What's interesting about the holiday cracker jokes is that none of us find them funny.

"It creates a shared moment at the table and I believe it's lovely."