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

This quip is met by moans that resonate through a warehouse in the capital.

This describes a humor-evaluation session with a company that produces products for gatherings. Its catalogue features Christmas crackers.

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

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

The secret to a good holiday cracker pun is not the same as a stand-up joke in itself. It is entirely about the context - in this case, the shared laughter of the Christmas meal with grandparents, children and possibly neighbours.

"The goal is for the gag to be something that unites the child together with the grandparent," she states.

The Neuroscience Behind Communal Amusement

Coming together to enjoy communal laughter is not only nothing new, experts argue, it is probably to be older than humanity.

"So when you are chuckling with others around the Christmas table you are engaging in what's almost certainly a really ancient mammal play sound," says a professor.

Shared amusement, she explains, aids in forge and strengthen social connections between individuals.

Scientists have found that a absence of such interactions can significantly damage mental and physical well-being.

"The people you converse with, and laugh with, it leads to enhanced levels of 'happy chemical' release," the professor continues.

Endorphins are the body's "feel-good compounds" and are released both to alleviate tension and discomfort and in reaction to pleasurable experiences, such as chuckling with friends over a truly terrible Christmas cracker gag.

"You're not just chuckling at a silly joke with a holiday cracker," she says. "You are actually doing a lot of the truly important work of making, maintaining the connections you have with the people you love."

What Happens Inside the Brain?

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

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

Using brain scanning technology, a kind of neural imager which indicates which parts of the brain are more active, researchers have been able to chart the regions that get more blood flow.

Testing involves imaging the brains of volunteer participants and then exposing them to a collection of funny phrases, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or recorded laughter.

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

A gag activates not just the areas of the mind responsible for hearing and understanding language, but also neural regions associated with both preparation and initiating movement and those linked to vision and memory.

Put all of this together, and individuals listening to a pun have a sophisticated series of neural reactions that underpin the amusement we experience.

The Contagious Nature of Laughter

Researchers discovered that when a funny word is combined with laughter there is a stronger reaction in the mind than the identical word when accompanied by a non-emotional sound.

"This was in areas of the brain that you would use to move your face into a grin or a chuckle," she explains.

It means people are not just reacting to humorous jokes, they are reacting to the laughter that follows them.

Laughter, according to the expert, can be infectious.

So what does this imply for the chuckles found around a holiday table?

"You laugh harder when you are familiar with people," she notes, "and laughter increases more when you like them or care for them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker jokes, she says, 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 gag is the terrible Christmas cracker joke, and it's just a reason to chuckle together."

The Quest for the Perfect Festive Pun

Will we ever discover the perfect joke?

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

Years ago, a professor established a scientific project for the world's most humorous joke.

Over tens of thousands of gags later, with scores lodged by 350,000 people globally, he has a better idea than many as to what works and what does not.

The ideal Christmas cracker pun must be short, he explains.

"But they also be poor jokes, puns that make us groan," he continues.

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

"This is because if no-one laughs – it's the joke's shortcoming, not yours.

"What's interesting about the holiday cracker jokes is that not one person find them funny.

"It creates a shared moment around the gathering and I think it's lovely."