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

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

We're at a humor-evaluation session with a firm that makes supplies for gatherings. Its catalogue features festive crackers.

The company's founder smiles, almost sheepishly at the joke. But the pun has been selected and will feature in future crackers.

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

The key to a great Christmas cracker joke is not the identical as a stand-up gag per se. It is entirely about the context - in this case, the communal amusement of the Christmas dinner table with grandparents, children and possibly friends.

"You want the joke to be a thing that unites the child together with the 80-year-old," she states.

The Neuroscience Behind Communal Amusement

Coming together to enjoy communal amusement is not only ancient, experts argue, it is probably to be older than humanity.

"So when you are chuckling with others at the holiday table you are dropping into what's very likely a really primordial mammal social sound," says a professor.

Shared laughter, she says, helps forge and strengthen social connections between individuals.

Scientists have discovered that a absence of these social exchanges can seriously harm mental and physical health.

"Those you converse with, and laugh with, it leads to increased amounts of 'happy chemical' release," she continues.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are produced both to reduce tension and discomfort and in response to enjoyable experiences, such as chuckling with loved ones over a truly awful Christmas cracker joke.

"It's not simply laughing at a silly joke with a holiday cracker," she says. "You are in fact doing a lot of the really important task of making, maintaining the connections you have with the people you love."

What Occurs Inside the Brain?

But what is actually happening inside the mind when we listen to a gag?

An awful lot happens in response to humour, it turns out.

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

Testing entails imaging the brains of healthy subjects and then exposing them to a database of humorous phrases, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or pre-recorded chuckles.

"During the study we observed a very interesting pattern of neural activity," says the neuroscientist.

A gag activates not just the areas of the brain responsible for hearing and interpreting language, but also neural regions associated with both preparation and starting motion and those linked to sight and recall.

Combine all of this as a whole, and individuals listening to a pun have a complex set of neural responses that underpin the amusement we experience.

The Contagious Nature of Chuckles

Researchers discovered that when a humorous word is paired with chuckles there is a stronger response in the brain than the identical word when followed by a neutral sound.

"This was in parts of the mind that you would employ to move your expression into a smile or a chuckle," she says.

It means people are not just responding to humorous words, they are responding to the amusement that accompanies 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 others," she notes, "and you laugh more when you like them or care for them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker jokes, she explains, the positive factor is more likely to be triggered not by the gag in itself, but from the response to it.

"It's the laughter. The gag is the dreadful Christmas cracker pun, and it's just a reason to chuckle as a group."

The Search for the Perfect Cracker Joke

Is it possible to find the ultimate joke?

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

Years ago, a professor established a scientific project for the planet's funniest joke.

More than tens of thousands of gags submitted, with scores lodged by 350,000 people around the world, he has a clearer understanding than many as to what works and what fails.

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

"But they also be poor gags, jokes that make us moan," he adds.

The increasingly "terrible" the gag, he states the more effective.

"This is because if no-one finds it funny – it's the joke's fault, not yours.

"The fascinating part about the holiday cracker puns is that not one person considers them funny.

"That's a common experience at the gathering and I think it's wonderful."