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"What was the price did Santa's sleigh cost? Nothing, it was on the house."

This quip is met by groans that echo through a warehouse 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 founder grins, nearly sheepishly at the gag. But the joke has been selected and will feature in future crackers.

"The success is gauged by the gag by the volume of moans and the loudness of the groans at the table," she explains.

The key to a great Christmas cracker pun is not the same as a stand-up gag per se. It is all about the context - in this instance, the communal amusement of the Christmas meal with elders, kids and potentially neighbours.

"You want the gag to be something that unites the eight-year-old in harmony with the grandparent," she states.

The Science Of Communal Laughter

Gathering to enjoy communal amusement is not only nothing new, scientists argue, it is likely to be older than humanity.

"So when you are chuckling with people at the Christmas table you are engaging in what's almost certainly a really ancient mammal social vocalisation," explains a neuroscience expert.

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

Researchers have discovered that a lack of such social exchanges can seriously harm mental and physical health.

"The people you talk to, and laugh with, it leads to enhanced levels of endorphin release," she adds.

Endorphins are the brain's "feel-good compounds" and are released both to reduce tension and discomfort and in response to pleasurable activities, such as chuckling with loved ones over a particularly awful Christmas cracker gag.

"You're not just laughing at a silly pun with a Christmas cracker," the expert says. "You are actually performing a lot of the really vital task of building, preserving the social bonds you have with the people you care about."

Which Occurs In the Brain?

But what is actually happening inside the mind when we hear a joke?

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

Employing brain scanning technology, a type of neural imager which shows which areas of the mind are more active, researchers have been able to chart the areas that get more blood flow.

The research involves scanning the minds of volunteer subjects and then subjecting them to a database of humorous words, paired with either a neutral sound, or pre-recorded chuckles.

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

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

Put these elements together, and individuals hearing a joke have a complex series of brain responses that underpin the laughter we experience.

The Infectious Power of Laughter

Scientists found that when a humorous phrase is combined with chuckles there is a stronger response in the mind than the same phrase when followed by a non-emotional sound.

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

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

Amusement, according to the professor, can be contagious.

So what does this mean for the laughter found at a holiday table?

"You laugh more when you know people," she notes, "and you laugh further when you like them or love them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker puns, she says, the feel-good factor is more likely to be caused not by the gag 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 laugh together."

The Quest for the Ideal Cracker Joke

Will we ever discover the ultimate gag?

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

In 2001, a professor established a scientific search for the world's funniest gag.

Over 40,000 jokes later, with ratings lodged by 350,000 participants globally, he has a better understanding than most as to what succeeds and what does not.

The perfect Christmas cracker pun must be short, he explains.

"They must also be poor jokes, puns that cause us to moan," he continues.

The increasingly "awful" the joke, he states the better.

"This is because if nobody finds it funny – it's the gag's shortcoming, not your own.

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

"It creates a common experience around the table and I think it's lovely."