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"What was the price did Santa's sled cost? Zero, it was on the house."

This one-liner is greeted with moans that resonate through a storage facility in the capital.

We're at a humor-evaluation meeting with a firm that produces supplies for gatherings. Its repertoire features festive crackers.

The firm's owner smiles, nearly apologetically at the joke. But the joke has made the cut and will feature in future crackers.

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

The key to a great Christmas cracker pun is not the same as a stand-up joke per se. It is entirely about the context - in this instance, the communal amusement of the holiday dinner table with elders, children and potentially neighbours.

"You want the gag to be a thing that unites the child in harmony with the grandparent," she states.

The Science Of Shared Amusement

Gathering to enjoy shared laughter is not only ancient, experts say, it is probably to be pre-human.

"So when you are chuckling with people around the holiday table you are dropping into what's almost certainly a really primordial mammalian social sound," explains a professor.

Communal amusement, she says, aids in make and maintain social connections between people.

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

"The people you converse with, and laugh with, it leads to enhanced amounts of 'happy chemical' uptake," she adds.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "feel-good compounds" and are released both to alleviate tension and discomfort and in reaction to pleasurable experiences, such as laughing with loved ones over a truly awful Christmas cracker joke.

"It's not simply chuckling at a foolish joke with a holiday cracker," she states. "You are actually performing a lot of the really important task of making, maintaining the connections you have with the people you care about."

Which Occurs Inside the Mind?

But what is actually happening inside the brain when we listen to a joke?

A tremendous amount happens in reaction to comedy, it transpires.

Employing brain scanning technology, a kind of brain scanner which shows which areas of the brain are more active, scientists have been able to chart the areas that receive more blood flow.

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

"During the study we got a very interesting pattern of activation," says the neuroscientist.

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

Combine all of this together, and individuals listening to a pun have a sophisticated series of neural responses that underpin the laughter we hear.

The Contagious Nature of Laughter

Scientists discovered that when a humorous word is combined with laughter there is a stronger response in the brain than the same word when accompanied by a neutral sound.

"This activation occurred in parts of the brain that you would use to contort your face into a smile or a laugh," she says.

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

Laughter, according to the expert, can be contagious.

So what does this mean for the chuckles heard around a holiday table?

"People laugh more when you are familiar with others," she notes, "and laughter increases more when you are fond of them or love them."

When it comes to festive cracker puns, she explains, the feel-good effect is more likely to be triggered not by the gag itself, but from the reaction to it.

"The laughter is key. The joke is the terrible Christmas cracker joke, and it's just a reason to chuckle together."

The Search for the Perfect Festive Pun

Will we ever find the ultimate gag?

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

Years ago, a professor set up a scientific search for the planet's most humorous gag.

Over 40,000 jokes submitted, with scores provided by hundreds of thousands of participants around the world, he has a clearer idea than many as to what succeeds and what fails.

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

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

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

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

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

"That's a common moment at the gathering and I believe it's lovely."