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

This quip is met by moans that echo through a warehouse in the capital.

We're at a humor-evaluation meeting with a company that makes supplies for social events. Its catalogue features Christmas crackers.

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

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

The secret to a good holiday cracker joke is not the identical as a stand-up joke in itself. It is entirely about the context - in this case, the shared amusement of the holiday meal with elders, kids and possibly neighbours.

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

The Neuroscience Behind Communal Laughter

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

"So when you are chuckling with people at the holiday table you are dropping into what's very likely a really ancient mammalian play vocalisation," explains a professor.

Shared laughter, she says, aids in forge and strengthen social bonds between people.

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

"The people you converse with, and share laughter with, it leads to enhanced levels of 'happy chemical' release," the professor continues.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "feel-good compounds" and are released both to alleviate tension and discomfort and in reaction to pleasurable experiences, such as chuckling with loved ones over a truly terrible Christmas cracker joke.

"You're not just chuckling at a silly joke with a holiday cracker," she states. "You are in fact performing a lot of the truly important task of building, preserving the connections you have with the people you love."

Which Occurs Inside the Mind?

But what is truly taking place inside the brain when we hear a gag?

A tremendous amount happens in reaction to humour, it transpires.

Employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a type of brain scanner which shows which parts of the mind are more active, scientists have been able to map the regions that get more blood.

Testing involves scanning the minds of healthy participants and then subjecting them to a database of funny words, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or pre-recorded chuckles.

"During the study we observed a really interesting activation pattern of neural activity," notes the professor.

A joke activates not just the areas of the brain in charge of auditory processing and understanding speech, but also neural areas associated with both preparation and initiating motion and those involved in vision and recall.

Combine all of this as a whole, and people hearing a pun have a complex set of neural reactions that support the amusement we hear.

The Infectious Nature of Laughter

Scientists discovered that when a humorous phrase is combined with chuckles there is a greater reaction in the brain than the same word when followed by a neutral sound.

"This was in parts of the brain that you would use to contort your face into a smile or a laugh," she says.

It means we are not just reacting to funny jokes, they are reacting to the amusement that accompanies them.

Amusement, says the professor, can be infectious.

So what does this mean for the chuckles found at a Christmas gathering?

"You laugh harder when you know people," she notes, "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 gag is the dreadful holiday cracker joke, and it's just a pretext to laugh together."

The Quest for the Ideal Cracker Joke

Will we ever discover the perfect gag?

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

Years ago, a psychologist established a research project for the world's most humorous gag.

More than tens of thousands of gags submitted, with ratings provided by hundreds of thousands of people globally, he has a clearer idea than most as to what works and what does not.

The ideal festive cracker joke needs to be short, he says.

"They must also be bad jokes, puns that cause us to moan," he adds.

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

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

"The fascinating part about the Christmas cracker puns is that none of us find them humorous.

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