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"What was the price did Father Christmas's sled cost? Nothing, it was on the house."

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

We're at a joke-testing session with a firm that makes supplies for gatherings. Its catalogue includes Christmas crackers.

The company's owner grins, almost apologetically at the joke. But the pun has been selected and will feature in upcoming crackers.

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

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

"You want the gag to be something that brings the child together with the 80-year-old," she states.

The Science Behind Shared Amusement

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

"So when you are laughing with people at the Christmas dinner you are engaging in what's almost certainly a really primordial mammalian play vocalisation," says a professor.

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

Researchers have found that a absence of these social exchanges can significantly harm both psychological and bodily well-being.

"The people you talk to, and laugh with, it leads to increased levels of 'happy chemical' release," she adds.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are produced both to reduce tension and discomfort and in reaction to pleasurable activities, such as chuckling with loved ones over a particularly terrible festive cracker joke.

"You're not just laughing at a silly joke with a holiday cracker," she states. "You are actually doing a lot of the really vital task of building, preserving the social bonds you have with those you love."

What Happens Inside the Mind?

But what is truly taking place inside the mind when we hear a gag?

An awful lot happens in reaction to comedy, it turns out.

Using brain scanning technology, a kind of neural imager which indicates which parts of the brain are working harder, researchers have been able to chart the regions that receive more blood flow.

The research entails scanning the minds of volunteer subjects and then exposing them to a database of humorous phrases, paired with either a neutral sound, or pre-recorded laughter.

"During the study we observed a very fascinating pattern of activation," says the neuroscientist.

A gag activates not just the areas of the mind responsible for hearing and understanding language, but also brain areas associated with both planning and starting movement and those involved in sight and memory.

Combine all of this together, and people listening to a pun have a complex set of brain reactions that underpin the laughter we hear.

The Contagious Power of Laughter

Scientists discovered that when a humorous word is combined with chuckles there is a stronger reaction in the mind than the identical word when followed by a neutral sound.

"This was in areas of the brain that you would use to move your face into a grin or a laugh," she explains.

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

Laughter, says the expert, can be infectious.

So what does this imply for the chuckles heard around a Christmas gathering?

"You laugh more when you know others," she says, "and you laugh more when you are fond of them or love them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker puns, she says, the positive factor is more likely to be triggered not by the joke itself, but from the reaction to it.

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

The Quest for the Perfect Festive Pun

Is it possible to discover the ultimate joke?

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

Years ago, a professor set up a research project for the planet's funniest gag.

Over 40,000 jokes submitted, with scores lodged by 350,000 participants around the world, he has a better understanding than many as to what works and what fails.

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

"But they also need to be poor gags, jokes that cause us to groan," he adds.

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

"This is because if nobody laughs – it's the joke's fault, not yours.

"What's interesting about the Christmas cracker puns is that not one person considers them humorous.

"That's a shared moment at the table and I believe it's wonderful."