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

This joke is met by groans that echo through a storage facility in the capital.

This describes a joke-testing session with a firm that makes supplies for gatherings. Its catalogue includes Christmas crackers.

The company's owner smiles, nearly sheepishly at the joke. But the pun has been selected and will appear in upcoming crackers.

"You measure the joke by the volume of groans and the loudness of the groans at the table," the founder explains.

The key to a great holiday cracker joke is not the identical as a good gag in itself. It is entirely about the context - in this instance, the shared laughter of the holiday dinner table with elders, kids and potentially neighbours.

"You want the gag to be something that unites the eight-year-old together with the 80-year-old," she adds.

The Science Of Communal Amusement

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

"So when you are chuckling with people at the holiday table you are engaging in what's very likely a really primordial mammalian social sound," explains a professor.

Shared laughter, she says, helps make and maintain social connections between people.

Researchers have found that a lack of these social exchanges can seriously damage both psychological and bodily health.

"Those you talk to, and share laughter with, it results in increased amounts of 'happy chemical' uptake," the professor continues.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "feel-good compounds" and are released both to reduce tension and discomfort and in response to pleasurable activities, such as laughing with loved ones over a truly awful festive cracker gag.

"You're not just laughing at a silly pun with a Christmas cracker," she says. "You are actually performing a lot of the really vital task of building, preserving the social bonds you have with those you love."

What Occurs Inside the Brain?

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

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

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

Testing entails imaging the brains of volunteer subjects and then subjecting them to a collection of funny phrases, paired with either a neutral sound, or pre-recorded laughter.

"In the scanner we got a very fascinating pattern of activation," notes the neuroscientist.

A gag activates not just the areas of the brain in charge of auditory processing and interpreting speech, but also brain regions associated with both planning and starting movement and those involved in sight and recall.

Combine these elements together, and individuals listening to a joke have a sophisticated set of brain reactions that underpin the amusement we experience.

The Contagious Power of Chuckles

Researchers discovered that when a humorous word is paired with chuckles there is a stronger response in the brain than the same word when accompanied by a non-emotional sound.

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

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

Amusement, says the expert, can be infectious.

So what does this mean for the chuckles heard at a holiday gathering?

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

When it comes to festive cracker puns, she explains, the positive factor is more probable to be triggered not by the gag itself, but from the reaction to it.

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

The Search for the Ideal Festive Pun

Is it possible to discover the ultimate gag?

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

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

Over 40,000 jokes later, with scores provided by 350,000 people around the world, he has a better understanding than most as to what succeeds and what fails.

The perfect festive cracker joke must be short, he explains.

"They must also need to be bad gags, jokes that cause us to groan," he adds.

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

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

"What's interesting about the holiday cracker jokes is that not one person considers them funny.

"That's a common moment around the gathering and I believe it's wonderful."