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

This quip is met by moans that echo through a storage facility in the capital.

This describes a joke-testing meeting with a company that makes products for gatherings. Its catalogue features Christmas crackers.

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

"The success is gauged by the gag 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 identical as a stand-up gag in itself. It is all about the setting - in this instance, 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 eight-year-old together with the grandparent," she adds.

The Science Behind Communal Laughter

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

"Therefore when you are laughing with people at the holiday table you are dropping into what's almost certainly a really primordial mammal social sound," explains a professor.

Communal amusement, she explains, helps forge and strengthen social connections between people.

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

"Those you talk to, and share laughter with, it leads to enhanced levels of 'happy chemical' uptake," she continues.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "feel-good compounds" and are produced both to alleviate tension and discomfort and in reaction to enjoyable experiences, such as laughing with friends over a particularly terrible festive cracker joke.

"You're not just chuckling at a silly joke with a holiday cracker," the expert states. "You are actually doing a lot of the really vital task of building, preserving the connections you have with those you care about."

Which Happens Inside the Mind?

But what is truly taking place within the mind when we hear a gag?

A tremendous amount happens in response to humour, it turns out.

Using brain scanning technology, a kind of brain scanner which indicates which parts of the brain are more active, researchers have been able to chart the areas that receive more blood flow.

The research entails scanning the minds of healthy subjects and then subjecting them to a database of funny phrases, paired with either a neutral sound, or recorded chuckles.

"In the scanner we got a really fascinating pattern of activation," says the neuroscientist.

A joke activates not just the parts of the mind responsible for auditory processing and interpreting speech, but also brain areas associated with both planning and starting movement and those linked to sight and recall.

Put these elements together, and people hearing a pun have a sophisticated set of neural reactions that support the laughter we hear.

The Contagious Nature of Chuckles

Researchers found that when a funny word is combined with chuckles there is a stronger reaction in the brain than the same word when followed by a non-emotional sound.

"This activation occurred in areas of the mind that you would use to contort your expression into a grin or a laugh," she says.

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

Amusement, according to the expert, can be contagious.

So what does this imply for the laughter heard at a holiday table?

"People laugh harder when you know 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 positive effect is more likely to be caused not by the joke itself, but from the reaction to it.

"It's the laughter. The joke is the dreadful holiday cracker joke, and it's just a reason to laugh together."

The Quest for the Ideal Festive Pun

Is it possible to discover the perfect gag?

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

In 2001, a psychologist established a research search for the planet's funniest joke.

Over 40,000 jokes later, with scores provided by hundreds of thousands of participants around the world, he has a clearer idea than most as to what works and what does not.

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

"They must also need to be bad gags, jokes that cause us to moan," he adds.

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

"This is because if nobody finds it funny – it's the joke's fault, not yours.

"What's interesting about the Christmas cracker jokes is that none of us considers them humorous.

"It creates a shared experience at the gathering and I believe it's wonderful."