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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 groans that resonate through a warehouse in the capital.

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

The firm's founder grins, almost apologetically at the gag. But the pun has been selected and will feature in upcoming crackers.

"The success is gauged by the gag by the number of moans and the loudness of the groans around the table," the founder says.

The key to a great holiday cracker joke is not the same as a stand-up joke per se. It is all about the context - in this case, the communal amusement of the holiday dinner table with elders, kids and potentially friends.

"The goal is for the joke to be a thing that brings the eight-year-old together with the 80-year-old," she states.

The Science Of Communal Laughter

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

"Therefore when you are laughing with others around the Christmas dinner you are engaging in what's very likely a truly ancient mammalian play vocalisation," says a neuroscience expert.

Shared laughter, she explains, aids in make and maintain social bonds between individuals.

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

"Those you talk to, and share laughter with, it leads to enhanced amounts of endorphin release," she continues.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are produced both to alleviate stress and pain and in reaction to enjoyable experiences, such as chuckling with loved ones over a particularly terrible festive cracker joke.

"You're not just laughing at a foolish joke with a holiday cracker," the expert states. "You are in fact performing a lot of the really important task of building, preserving the connections you have with those you love."

Which Occurs In the Mind?

But what is actually taking place within the brain when we hear a joke?

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

Employing brain scanning technology, a kind of neural imager which shows which parts of the mind are working harder, researchers have been able to map the regions that get more blood.

The research entails scanning the brains of healthy participants and then exposing them to a database of humorous phrases, accompanied by either a neutral sound, or recorded chuckles.

"In the scanner we observed a really interesting activation pattern of activation," notes the neuroscientist.

A gag stimulates not just the parts of the brain responsible for hearing and interpreting language, but also brain regions associated with both planning and initiating movement and those involved in sight and recall.

Put all of this as a whole, and individuals listening to a joke have a complex set of brain reactions that support the amusement we hear.

The Infectious Nature of Chuckles

Researchers found that when a funny word is combined with chuckles there is a stronger response in the brain than the same word when accompanied by a non-emotional sound.

"This activation occurred in areas of the brain that you would use to move your expression into a grin or a chuckle," the professor explains.

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

Laughter, says the expert, can be contagious.

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

"People laugh more when you are familiar with people," she says, "and laughter increases further when you are fond of 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 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 reason to laugh together."

The Quest for the Perfect Festive Pun

Will we ever find the ultimate joke?

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

In 2001, a professor established a research project for the planet's funniest joke.

Over 40,000 gags submitted, with scores provided by 350,000 participants around the world, he has a clearer idea than many as to what works and what fails.

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

"But they also be bad jokes, jokes that cause us to moan," he adds.

The more "awful" the gag, he says the more effective.

"The reason is that if nobody finds it funny – it's the gag's fault, not your own.

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

"That's a shared experience around the gathering and I believe it's wonderful."