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

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

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

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

"You measure the joke by the number of groans and the intensity of the groans around the table," she says.

The key to a great holiday cracker pun is not the same as a stand-up gag per se. It is all about the setting - in this instance, the shared amusement of the Christmas dinner table with grandparents, kids and potentially friends.

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

The Science Of Shared Amusement

Coming together to experience shared amusement is not only ancient, scientists say, it is likely to be older than humanity.

"So when you are chuckling with others at the Christmas dinner you are dropping into what's very likely a really primordial mammalian play sound," explains a professor.

Communal laughter, she says, aids in forge and strengthen social bonds between people.

Researchers have discovered that a lack of these social exchanges can seriously harm both psychological and bodily well-being.

"Those you talk to, and laugh with, it results in enhanced amounts of endorphin release," the professor continues.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are released both to alleviate stress and pain and in response to enjoyable experiences, such as chuckling with friends over a particularly awful festive cracker joke.

"You're not just chuckling at a foolish pun with a holiday cracker," she states. "You are in fact performing a lot of the truly important work of building, preserving the connections you have with those you care about."

What Happens Inside the Brain?

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

A tremendous amount occurs in response to comedy, it transpires.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a kind of neural imager which shows which areas of the brain are working harder, researchers have been able to chart the areas that receive more blood flow.

Testing involves scanning the brains of healthy subjects and then subjecting them to a database of humorous words, paired with either a non-emotional sound, or recorded laughter.

"In the scanner we observed a really interesting pattern of neural activity," says the neuroscientist.

A gag stimulates not just the parts of the brain in charge of hearing and understanding language, but also brain regions involved in both preparation and initiating motion and those involved in sight and recall.

Combine these elements together, and people hearing a joke have a sophisticated set of neural responses that support the laughter we hear.

The Infectious Nature of Laughter

Scientists found that when a funny phrase is combined with laughter there is a greater response in the mind than the identical phrase when followed by a neutral sound.

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

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

Laughter, according to the expert, can be contagious.

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

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

When it comes to festive cracker jokes, she says, the positive effect is more probable to be triggered not by the joke itself, but from the reaction to it.

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

The Quest for the Ideal Cracker Joke

Is it possible to discover the ultimate joke?

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

Years ago, a psychologist set up a research project for the world's most humorous gag.

Over 40,000 jokes later, with ratings provided by hundreds of thousands of people globally, he has a clearer idea than many as to what works and what fails.

The perfect Christmas cracker joke needs to be brief, he says.

"They must also be poor gags, jokes that make us groan," he adds.

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

"The reason is that if no-one finds it funny – it's the gag's shortcoming, not your own.

"What's interesting about the holiday cracker puns is that none of us find them humorous.

"That's a common moment around the gathering and I think it's wonderful."