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

This one-liner is met by groans that echo through a warehouse in the capital.

This describes a joke-testing meeting with a firm that produces products for gatherings. Its catalogue includes Christmas crackers.

The firm's founder grins, nearly apologetically at the joke. But the joke has been selected and will feature in upcoming crackers.

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

The key to a good holiday cracker pun is not the same as a good gag per se. It is entirely about the context - in this case, the communal laughter of the Christmas meal with elders, kids and possibly friends.

"The goal is for the gag to be something that brings the child in harmony with the 80-year-old," she adds.

The Neuroscience Of Shared Laughter

Gathering to enjoy shared amusement is not only nothing new, experts say, it is likely to be older than humanity.

"So when you are chuckling with people around the Christmas table you are dropping into what's very likely a really ancient mammal social sound," explains a professor.

Communal amusement, she says, helps forge and strengthen social bonds between people.

Researchers have found that a absence of these social exchanges can seriously harm both psychological and bodily well-being.

"The people you talk to, and share laughter with, it results in increased levels of endorphin release," the professor continues.

These natural chemicals are the body's "feel-good compounds" and are produced both to alleviate tension and discomfort and in reaction to pleasurable activities, such as laughing with friends over a particularly awful Christmas cracker gag.

"You're not just chuckling at a silly joke with a holiday cracker," the expert states. "You are in fact doing a lot of the truly important work of making, maintaining the social bonds you have with those you love."

What Occurs Inside the Brain?

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

An awful lot occurs in response to comedy, it transpires.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a type of brain scanner which indicates which parts of the mind are working harder, scientists have been able to chart the areas that receive more blood flow.

Testing entails scanning the brains of volunteer participants and then exposing them to a collection of funny phrases, accompanied by either a neutral sound, or recorded laughter.

"During the study we observed a really interesting pattern of activation," notes the professor.

A gag stimulates not just the parts of the mind responsible for auditory processing and understanding speech, but also brain areas involved in both preparation and initiating movement and those involved in vision and recall.

Put these elements together, and people hearing a pun have a sophisticated series of brain reactions that underpin the laughter we experience.

The Infectious Nature of Chuckles

Scientists discovered that when a funny word is paired 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 use to move your expression into a grin or a laugh," she says.

It means we are not just responding to funny jokes, they are responding to the laughter that follows them.

Laughter, says the expert, can be contagious.

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

"People laugh more when you know people," she says, "and you laugh further when you like them or care for them."

When it comes to festive cracker puns, she explains, the feel-good factor is more probable to be triggered not by the gag in itself, but from the reaction 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 Quest for the Perfect Festive Pun

Is it possible to discover the perfect joke?

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

In 2001, a professor established a scientific search for the planet's funniest joke.

More than 40,000 gags submitted, with ratings lodged by 350,000 participants around the world, he has a clearer understanding than many as to what succeeds and what does not.

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

"But they also need to be poor gags, jokes that make us moan," he continues.

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

"The reason is that if nobody laughs – it's the gag's shortcoming, not yours.

"The fascinating part about the Christmas cracker jokes is that none of us considers them humorous.

"That's a shared experience at the table and I think it's lovely."