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

This joke is greeted with groans that resonate through a warehouse in the capital.

We're at a joke-testing session with a company that produces products for social events. Its repertoire features festive crackers.

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

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

The key to a good holiday cracker pun is not the same as a good joke in itself. It is all about the setting - in this instance, the communal amusement of the holiday meal with elders, children and possibly neighbours.

"The goal is for the joke to be something that brings the child in harmony with the 80-year-old," she adds.

The Science Of Shared Laughter

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

"So when you are chuckling with people around the Christmas dinner you are dropping into what's very likely a truly ancient mammalian social vocalisation," says a professor.

Shared amusement, she says, helps forge and strengthen social bonds between people.

Researchers have found that a absence of such interactions can significantly harm mental and physical well-being.

"The people you talk to, and laugh with, it leads to increased levels of 'happy chemical' release," she continues.

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

"You're not just chuckling at a silly joke 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 the people you love."

Which Occurs In the Mind?

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

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

Using brain scanning technology, a kind of neural imager which indicates which parts of the mind are more active, researchers have been able to chart the areas that receive more blood flow.

The research involves scanning the minds of healthy participants and then subjecting them to a database of humorous phrases, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or pre-recorded laughter.

"During the study we got a really interesting pattern of neural activity," says the professor.

A joke activates not just the areas of the brain in charge of auditory processing and understanding speech, but also brain areas involved in both preparation and starting motion and those involved in sight and recall.

Put all of this together, and people listening to a joke have a sophisticated series of neural reactions that support the laughter we experience.

The Infectious Power of Laughter

Researchers found that when a humorous word is paired with chuckles there is a greater reaction in the brain than the identical phrase when accompanied by a neutral sound.

"This was in areas of the brain that you would employ to move your face into a smile or a laugh," the professor says.

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

Amusement, according to the expert, can be contagious.

So what does this imply for the laughter found around a Christmas gathering?

"People laugh more when you are familiar with others," she says, "and you laugh more when you like them or care for them."

When it comes to festive cracker jokes, she says, the feel-good factor is more likely to be triggered not by the joke in itself, but from the reaction to it.

"It's the laughter. The joke is the dreadful holiday cracker joke, and it's just a pretext to laugh together."

The Quest for the Perfect Festive Pun

Will we ever discover the perfect joke?

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

In 2001, a psychologist set up a scientific search for the planet's most humorous gag.

Over tens of thousands of gags later, with scores provided by 350,000 people globally, he has a clearer understanding than many as to what works and what fails.

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

"They must also be bad gags, jokes that make us moan," he continues.

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

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

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

"That's a common experience at the table and I believe it's wonderful."