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"How much did Santa's sled cost? Nothing, it was on the house."

This quip is greeted with groans that resonate through a storage facility in the capital.

This describes a joke-testing meeting with a firm that produces products for gatherings. Its repertoire features festive crackers.

The firm's founder smiles, nearly apologetically at the gag. But the joke has made the cut and will appear in future crackers.

"The success is gauged by the joke by the number of groans and the intensity of the groans around the table," she says.

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

"The goal is for the gag to be a thing that brings the child in harmony with the grandparent," she states.

The Science Of Shared Laughter

Coming together to enjoy communal amusement is not only nothing new, experts argue, it is likely to be pre-human.

"So when you are laughing with people around the Christmas table you are engaging in what's almost certainly a really ancient mammal play sound," says a neuroscience expert.

Communal laughter, she says, helps make and maintain social bonds between individuals.

Scientists have discovered that a absence of these interactions can seriously damage mental and physical health.

"Those you talk to, and share laughter with, it leads to increased amounts of 'happy chemical' release," she adds.

These natural chemicals are the body's "happy chemicals" and are released both to reduce tension and discomfort and in response to enjoyable activities, such as laughing with friends over a truly awful festive cracker gag.

"It's not simply chuckling at a silly pun with a holiday cracker," she states. "You are actually performing a lot of the truly important work of building, preserving the social bonds you have with the people you love."

Which Happens In the Brain?

But what is truly happening within the brain when we hear a joke?

A tremendous amount occurs in reaction to comedy, it turns out.

Using brain scanning technology, a type of neural imager which indicates which areas of the mind are more active, researchers have been able to map the areas that get more blood.

The research entails scanning the brains of volunteer participants 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 really interesting pattern of neural activity," says the neuroscientist.

A gag activates not just the parts of the brain responsible for auditory processing and interpreting speech, but also neural regions involved in both preparation and starting movement and those linked to sight and memory.

Put these elements together, and people hearing a joke have a complex set of neural responses that underpin the amusement we hear.

The Contagious Nature of Chuckles

Scientists found 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 non-emotional sound.

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

It indicates people are not just responding to funny words, they are responding to the amusement that accompanies them.

Amusement, says the professor, can be infectious.

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

"People laugh more when you are familiar with others," she notes, "and laughter increases more when you are fond of them or care for them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker puns, she explains, the positive effect is more likely to be triggered not by the joke 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 Quest for the Ideal Festive Pun

Will we ever discover the ultimate gag?

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

In 2001, a professor set up a research search for the planet's funniest joke.

Over 40,000 gags later, with ratings provided by 350,000 people globally, he has a better understanding than most as to what succeeds and what fails.

The ideal Christmas cracker pun needs to be brief, he explains.

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

The increasingly "awful" the gag, he says the better.

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

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

"That's a shared experience at the table and I think it's lovely."