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

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

We're at a joke-testing session with a company that makes supplies for gatherings. Its catalogue features festive crackers.

The firm's owner smiles, almost apologetically at the joke. But the pun has been selected and will appear in future crackers.

"You measure the gag by the volume of moans and the intensity of the groans at the table," the founder says.

The key to a great holiday cracker joke is not the same as a good joke in itself. It is all about the context - in this case, the shared amusement of the holiday dinner table with elders, children and potentially friends.

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

The Neuroscience Of Shared Laughter

Coming together to enjoy communal 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 dinner you are dropping into what's almost certainly a really ancient mammalian play vocalisation," explains a neuroscience expert.

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

Scientists have discovered that a lack of such social exchanges can seriously damage mental and physical well-being.

"The people you converse with, and share laughter with, it results in increased levels of 'happy chemical' uptake," she adds.

Endorphins are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are produced both to reduce stress and pain and in reaction to enjoyable experiences, such as laughing with loved ones over a particularly terrible festive cracker joke.

"It's not simply laughing at a silly joke with a holiday cracker," the expert states. "You are in fact performing a lot of the truly vital work of making, maintaining the connections you have with those you care about."

What Happens In the Brain?

But what is truly taking place within the brain when we listen to a gag?

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

Employing brain scanning technology, a type of brain scanner which indicates which parts of the mind are working harder, scientists have been able to chart the areas that get more blood.

Testing involves imaging the minds of healthy participants and then exposing them to a database of humorous phrases, paired with either a non-emotional sound, or pre-recorded chuckles.

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

A joke activates not just the areas of the mind in charge of hearing and understanding speech, but also neural areas associated with both planning and starting movement and those linked to sight and recall.

Combine all of this as a whole, and individuals hearing a pun have a complex series of neural reactions that underpin the laughter we hear.

The Infectious Nature of Laughter

Researchers found that when a humorous word is combined with laughter there is a stronger response in the brain than the same phrase when followed by a neutral sound.

"This was in parts of the brain that you would employ to contort your expression into a grin or a chuckle," the professor says.

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

Laughter, according to the professor, can be infectious.

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

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

When it comes to festive cracker puns, she says, the feel-good factor is more likely to be triggered not by the joke in itself, but from the reaction to it.

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

The Quest for the Ideal Cracker Joke

Is it possible to find the perfect gag?

Likely not, but that has not prevented researchers from trying to.

In 2001, a psychologist set up a research search for the world's funniest gag.

More than tens of thousands of gags later, with ratings lodged by 350,000 participants globally, he has a better idea than most as to what works and what does not.

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

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

The more "terrible" the joke, he states the more effective.

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

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

"It creates a shared experience at the gathering and I think it's lovely."