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"What was the price did Santa's sled cost? Nothing, it was on the house."

This joke is met by groans that echo through a warehouse in the capital.

This describes a joke-testing session with a firm that makes products for gatherings. Its catalogue includes festive crackers.

The company's founder smiles, nearly apologetically at the joke. But the pun has been selected and will appear in future crackers.

"You measure the joke by the volume of moans and the intensity of the groans around the table," she explains.

The secret to a great Christmas cracker pun is not the identical as a stand-up gag in itself. It is all about the setting - in this case, the communal laughter of the holiday dinner table with elders, children and possibly neighbours.

"The goal is for the gag to be something that brings the eight-year-old in harmony with the grandparent," she states.

The Neuroscience Behind Shared Laughter

Gathering to enjoy communal amusement is not only ancient, experts say, it is probably to be pre-human.

"So when you are laughing with people around the Christmas dinner you are engaging in what's almost certainly a really ancient mammal play sound," explains a professor.

Communal laughter, she says, aids in make and maintain social bonds between individuals.

Scientists have discovered that a absence of such social exchanges can significantly damage both psychological and bodily well-being.

"The people you talk to, and share laughter with, it results in enhanced levels of 'happy chemical' release," the professor adds.

Endorphins are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are produced both to alleviate tension and discomfort and in reaction to enjoyable activities, such as chuckling with friends over a truly terrible festive cracker gag.

"It's not simply laughing at a foolish joke with a Christmas cracker," she states. "You are actually doing a lot of the really important task of building, preserving the connections you have with the people you love."

Which Occurs Inside the Brain?

But what is truly taking place within the brain when we hear a joke?

An awful lot happens in reaction to comedy, it turns out.

Employing brain scanning technology, a type of neural imager which shows which areas of the mind are more active, researchers have been able to chart the regions that get more blood.

The research entails scanning the minds of volunteer subjects and then subjecting them to a database of humorous words, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or recorded chuckles.

"During the study we observed a very interesting pattern of activation," says the neuroscientist.

A gag activates not just the parts of the mind in charge of auditory processing and interpreting language, but also brain areas involved in both planning and initiating motion and those involved in sight and recall.

Combine these elements together, and individuals hearing a pun have a sophisticated series of neural reactions that support the laughter we experience.

The Infectious Nature of Laughter

Researchers found that when a humorous phrase is combined with chuckles there is a stronger reaction in the mind than the identical word when followed by a neutral sound.

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

It indicates we are not just reacting to humorous jokes, they are responding to the amusement that accompanies them.

Laughter, says the professor, can be infectious.

So what does this mean for the chuckles found at a holiday gathering?

"You laugh more when you are familiar with others," she says, "and laughter increases further when you like them or love them."

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

"The laughter is key. The joke is the dreadful holiday cracker pun, and it's just a pretext to chuckle together."

The Quest for the Perfect Festive Pun

Will we ever find the perfect joke?

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

In 2001, a professor established a research project for the planet's most humorous joke.

More than tens of thousands of gags later, with ratings lodged by 350,000 people around the world, he has a better understanding than most as to what works and what fails.

The ideal festive cracker joke must be brief, he explains.

"They must also need to be poor gags, puns that make us moan," he continues.

The increasingly "terrible" the gag, he says the more effective.

"The reason is that if no-one finds it funny – it's the joke's shortcoming, not yours.

"What's interesting about the Christmas cracker jokes is that not one person considers them humorous.

"That's a common moment at the gathering and I believe it's lovely."