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

This joke is met by moans that resonate through a storage facility in the capital.

This describes a joke-testing meeting with a company that produces supplies for social events. Its catalogue features festive crackers.

The company's founder grins, almost sheepishly at the joke. But the pun has made the cut and will appear in upcoming crackers.

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

The key to a great Christmas cracker pun is not the same as a stand-up gag in itself. It is entirely about the context - in this case, the communal amusement of the holiday meal with elders, kids and possibly friends.

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

The Science Of Communal Amusement

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

"Therefore when you are laughing with others around the holiday table you are dropping into what's very likely a truly ancient mammalian play sound," says a neuroscience expert.

Shared laughter, she says, helps make and maintain social bonds between people.

Scientists have discovered that a absence of these social exchanges can seriously harm mental and physical health.

"Those you talk to, and laugh with, it results in enhanced amounts of endorphin uptake," she continues.

These natural chemicals are the body's "feel-good compounds" and are released both to alleviate tension and discomfort and in response to enjoyable activities, such as laughing with friends over a truly awful Christmas cracker joke.

"It's not simply chuckling at a silly pun with a holiday cracker," the expert says. "You are actually performing a lot of the really vital task of making, maintaining the social bonds you have with those you care about."

What Happens Inside the Brain?

But what is truly happening inside the brain when we hear a gag?

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

Employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a kind of neural imager which shows which areas of the mind are working harder, researchers have been able to chart the regions that receive more blood.

The research involves imaging the minds of healthy participants and then exposing them to a collection of funny phrases, paired with either a non-emotional sound, or pre-recorded chuckles.

"During the study we got a very interesting activation pattern of neural activity," notes the neuroscientist.

A gag activates not just the areas of the mind in charge of hearing and understanding speech, but also neural regions involved in both preparation and initiating motion and those involved in vision and memory.

Put all of this together, and people listening to a pun have a sophisticated set of neural responses that support the amusement we hear.

The Contagious Power of Chuckles

Researchers found that when a funny word is combined with laughter there is a greater reaction in the mind than the same phrase when followed by a non-emotional sound.

"This was in areas of the mind that you would employ to move your expression into a smile or a chuckle," she says.

It means we are not just reacting to funny words, they are responding to the amusement that follows them.

Amusement, says the professor, can be contagious.

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

"People laugh more when you know others," she notes, "and laughter increases more when you like them or love them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker jokes, she says, the positive effect is more likely to be triggered not by the joke 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 reason to laugh together."

The Quest for the Perfect Cracker Joke

Will we ever find the perfect joke?

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

Years ago, a psychologist set up a research project for the world's most humorous gag.

More than 40,000 jokes submitted, with ratings provided by hundreds of thousands of people around the world, he has a better understanding than most as to what succeeds and what does not.

The perfect festive cracker joke needs to be short, he explains.

"But they also need to be poor jokes, jokes that cause us to groan," he continues.

The increasingly "awful" the joke, he states the more effective.

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

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

"That's a shared experience around the table and I think it's wonderful."