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"What was the price did Father Christmas's sleigh cost? Nothing, it was on the house."

This one-liner is met by moans that resonate through a warehouse in the capital.

We're at a joke-testing session with a firm that produces supplies for social events. Its repertoire includes festive crackers.

The company's founder grins, nearly sheepishly at the gag. But the joke has been selected and will feature in future crackers.

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

The key to a good holiday cracker joke is not the same as a good joke per se. It is all about the context - in this case, the communal amusement of the Christmas meal with elders, kids and possibly neighbours.

"You want the gag to be a thing that brings the child in harmony with the grandparent," she states.

The Science Behind Communal Amusement

Gathering to enjoy communal amusement is not only nothing new, experts say, it is probably to be pre-human.

"Therefore when you are laughing with people around the Christmas dinner you are engaging in what's very likely a truly ancient mammal play sound," explains a neuroscience expert.

Communal laughter, she says, helps forge and strengthen social bonds between people.

Researchers have found that a lack of these social exchanges can significantly damage mental and physical well-being.

"Those you talk to, and laugh with, it leads to increased amounts of endorphin uptake," she continues.

Endorphins are the body's "feel-good compounds" and are released both to reduce stress and pain and in reaction to enjoyable experiences, such as laughing with loved ones over a truly terrible Christmas cracker gag.

"You're not just laughing at a silly pun with a Christmas cracker," the expert states. "You are in fact performing a lot of the truly vital work of making, maintaining the social bonds you have with the people you care about."

Which Occurs Inside the Mind?

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

A tremendous amount happens in response to humour, it turns out.

Using brain scanning technology, a type of neural imager which indicates which areas of the brain are working harder, researchers have been able to map the regions that receive more blood flow.

Testing entails scanning the minds of healthy subjects and then subjecting them to a database of humorous words, accompanied by either a neutral sound, or recorded chuckles.

"During the study we observed a very fascinating activation pattern of neural activity," notes the neuroscientist.

A gag activates not just the areas of the mind in charge of hearing and understanding speech, but also brain areas involved in both planning and initiating movement and those involved in sight and memory.

Combine these elements together, and individuals hearing a pun have a complex series of neural responses that underpin the laughter we hear.

The Infectious Nature of Laughter

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

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

It means people are not just responding to humorous jokes, they are responding to the laughter that follows them.

Laughter, says the expert, can be contagious.

So what does this imply for the laughter heard around a holiday table?

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

When it comes to festive cracker puns, she explains, the positive effect is more likely to be triggered not by the joke in itself, but from the reaction to it.

"The laughter is key. The gag is the dreadful Christmas cracker pun, and it's just a pretext to laugh together."

The Quest for the Ideal Festive Pun

Will we ever discover the ultimate joke?

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

In 2001, a professor established a research search for the world's most humorous gag.

More than 40,000 jokes submitted, with ratings lodged by hundreds of thousands of people globally, he has a better understanding than many as to what succeeds and what fails.

The perfect Christmas cracker joke must be brief, he explains.

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

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

"This is because if nobody finds it funny – it's the joke's shortcoming, not your own.

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

"It creates a common experience at the gathering and I think it's wonderful."