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

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

This describes a joke-testing meeting with a firm that produces supplies for gatherings. Its catalogue includes festive crackers.

The company's founder smiles, nearly sheepishly at the joke. But the pun has made the cut and will appear in future crackers.

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

The key to a great Christmas cracker joke is not the identical as a good joke in itself. It is all about the context - in this instance, the communal amusement of the holiday meal with grandparents, children and potentially friends.

"You want the gag to be a thing that brings the child together with the grandparent," she adds.

The Science Behind Shared Amusement

Gathering to enjoy communal amusement is not only ancient, experts say, it is probably to be older than humanity.

"So when you are laughing with people at the Christmas dinner you are dropping into what's almost certainly a really primordial mammal play vocalisation," explains a professor.

Communal laughter, she explains, helps forge and strengthen social bonds between individuals.

Researchers have discovered that a absence of these interactions can significantly harm mental and physical health.

"The people you talk to, and laugh with, it results in enhanced amounts of endorphin release," the professor adds.

Endorphins are the brain's "feel-good compounds" and are produced both to alleviate tension and discomfort and in reaction to pleasurable experiences, such as laughing with loved ones over a truly awful Christmas cracker gag.

"You're not just chuckling at a foolish joke with a holiday cracker," the expert says. "You are actually doing a lot of the truly important task of making, maintaining the connections you have with those you love."

Which Happens In the Brain?

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

An awful lot occurs in reaction to humour, it turns out.

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

The research entails imaging the brains of volunteer subjects and then subjecting them to a collection of funny words, accompanied by either a neutral sound, or recorded laughter.

"During the study we observed a really fascinating activation pattern of activation," notes the neuroscientist.

A gag stimulates not just the parts of the brain responsible for hearing and interpreting speech, but also neural areas involved in both preparation and starting movement and those involved in vision and recall.

Combine all of this together, and individuals listening to a pun have a complex series of brain responses that support the laughter we experience.

The Contagious Power of Laughter

Researchers discovered that when a humorous phrase is combined with chuckles there is a stronger reaction in the mind than the identical word when accompanied by a non-emotional sound.

"This was in areas of the mind that you would use to contort your expression into a grin or a chuckle," she explains.

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

Amusement, says the professor, can be infectious.

So what does this imply for the laughter heard at a Christmas gathering?

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

When it comes to festive cracker jokes, she explains, the positive factor is more likely to be caused not by the joke itself, but from the reaction to it.

"The laughter is key. The gag is the terrible holiday cracker pun, and it's just a reason to laugh as a group."

The Search for the Ideal Festive Pun

Will we ever discover the perfect joke?

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

Years ago, a professor established a scientific search for the planet's most humorous gag.

More than tens of thousands of jokes later, with ratings provided by hundreds of thousands of participants globally, he has a clearer understanding than many as to what works and what does not.

The ideal Christmas cracker joke must be short, he explains.

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

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

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

"What's interesting about the Christmas cracker jokes is that none of us find them funny.

"It creates a common moment around the gathering and I think it's lovely."