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"How much did Santa's sleigh cost? Zero, it was on the house."

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

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

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

"The success is gauged by the joke by the number of moans and the loudness of the groans at the table," the founder says.

The key to a good holiday cracker joke is not the same as a good gag per se. It is entirely about the setting - in this instance, the communal laughter of the Christmas dinner table with elders, children and potentially friends.

"The goal is for the joke to be something that brings the eight-year-old together with the 80-year-old," she adds.

The Science Of Communal Amusement

Coming together to enjoy shared laughter is not only nothing new, experts say, it is likely to be pre-human.

"Therefore when you are chuckling with others around the holiday table you are engaging in what's almost certainly a truly ancient mammalian play vocalisation," says a neuroscience expert.

Shared laughter, she explains, helps make and maintain social connections between individuals.

Researchers have discovered that a absence of such interactions can significantly damage both psychological and bodily well-being.

"The people you talk to, and laugh with, it results in increased levels of 'happy chemical' uptake," the professor continues.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are released both to reduce tension and discomfort and in reaction to enjoyable experiences, such as chuckling with loved ones over a truly awful Christmas cracker joke.

"You're not just laughing at a silly pun with a holiday cracker," the expert says. "You are actually doing a lot of the really vital task of making, maintaining the social bonds you have with those you love."

Which Occurs In the Mind?

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

A tremendous amount occurs in reaction to humour, it turns out.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a type of neural imager which indicates which areas of the brain are more active, researchers have been able to map the regions that receive more blood flow.

Testing entails scanning the minds of volunteer subjects and then exposing them to a database of humorous words, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or recorded chuckles.

"During the study we got a very fascinating pattern of activation," notes the neuroscientist.

A joke stimulates not just the parts of the brain in charge of hearing and interpreting speech, but also neural regions associated with both preparation and initiating motion and those involved in vision and memory.

Combine all of this as a whole, and people listening to a pun have a sophisticated series of brain responses that support the amusement we experience.

The Infectious Power of Chuckles

Researchers discovered that when a humorous phrase is paired with laughter there is a greater response in the mind than the same word when accompanied by a non-emotional sound.

"This activation occurred in areas of the brain that you would use to move your face into a smile or a chuckle," she says.

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

Laughter, says the professor, can be contagious.

So what does this imply for the chuckles found at a Christmas table?

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

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

"The laughter is key. The joke is the terrible Christmas cracker pun, and it's just a pretext to laugh as a group."

The Search for the Perfect Cracker Joke

Is it possible to discover the ultimate gag?

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

Years ago, a professor established a scientific project for the planet's funniest joke.

Over 40,000 jokes later, with ratings lodged by hundreds of thousands of people globally, he has a clearer idea than many as to what works and what does not.

The ideal festive cracker joke needs to be brief, he says.

"They must also be bad jokes, puns that make us groan," he continues.

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

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

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

"That's a common experience at the gathering and I believe it's wonderful."