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

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

This describes a joke-testing meeting with a firm that makes supplies for social events. Its repertoire includes festive crackers.

The company's owner smiles, nearly apologetically at the joke. But the pun has been selected and will feature in upcoming crackers.

"The success is gauged by the gag by the number of groans and the loudness of the groans around the table," the founder explains.

The key to a great holiday cracker joke is not the identical as a stand-up gag in itself. It is all about the setting - in this instance, the shared amusement of the holiday dinner table with grandparents, kids and possibly neighbours.

"You want the joke to be a thing that unites the child in harmony with the 80-year-old," she states.

The Science Behind Communal Amusement

Gathering to experience shared laughter is not only nothing new, experts argue, it is likely to be pre-human.

"Therefore when you are laughing with people around the Christmas dinner you are dropping into what's very likely a truly primordial mammalian social sound," says a neuroscience expert.

Communal amusement, she explains, aids in make and maintain social bonds between individuals.

Researchers have discovered that a lack of these interactions can significantly damage mental and physical health.

"The people you converse with, and laugh with, it leads to increased levels of endorphin release," the professor adds.

These natural chemicals are the body's "feel-good compounds" and are produced both to reduce tension and discomfort and in response to enjoyable experiences, such as laughing with friends over a truly awful festive cracker gag.

"You're not just chuckling at a foolish joke with a holiday cracker," she says. "You are actually performing a lot of the truly important work of building, preserving the social bonds you have with the people you care about."

What Occurs Inside the Brain?

But what is actually taking place within the mind when we listen to a joke?

An awful lot happens in reaction to humour, it transpires.

Employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a kind of neural imager which indicates which parts of the mind are working harder, scientists have been able to map the areas that get more blood flow.

The research entails imaging the brains of healthy participants and then exposing them to a collection of humorous words, paired with either a neutral sound, or pre-recorded laughter.

"In the scanner we observed a really fascinating activation pattern of activation," notes the neuroscientist.

A gag activates not just the areas of the mind responsible for hearing and interpreting language, but also neural regions associated with both preparation and starting movement and those linked to sight and recall.

Put these elements together, and individuals hearing a joke have a sophisticated set of brain responses that underpin the amusement we hear.

The Infectious Power of Chuckles

Researchers discovered that when a humorous phrase is combined with chuckles there is a greater reaction in the brain than the identical phrase when followed by a neutral sound.

"This activation occurred in parts of the mind that you would employ to move your face into a grin or a chuckle," she explains.

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

Laughter, according to the expert, can be infectious.

So what does this mean for the laughter found around a Christmas gathering?

"People laugh more when you know others," she notes, "and you laugh more when you are fond of them or care for them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker puns, she explains, the positive effect is more likely to be triggered not by the joke itself, but from the response to it.

"It's the laughter. The gag is the dreadful Christmas cracker pun, and it's just a pretext to laugh together."

The Search for the Perfect Festive Pun

Will we ever find the ultimate joke?

Likely not, but that has not prevented experts from attempting to.

In 2001, a professor set up a research search for the planet's most humorous gag.

Over tens of thousands of gags submitted, with ratings lodged by hundreds of thousands of people globally, he has a clearer idea than most as to what succeeds and what fails.

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

"But they also be bad gags, puns that make us groan," he continues.

The increasingly "terrible" the gag, he states the better.

"The reason is that if no-one laughs – it's the gag's fault, not your own.

"The fascinating part about the holiday cracker puns is that none of us find them humorous.

"That's a common experience around the table and I believe it's lovely."