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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 storage facility in the capital.

This describes a joke-testing meeting with a firm that produces products for social events. Its catalogue features Christmas crackers.

The firm's founder grins, almost sheepishly at the joke. But the joke has made the cut and will feature in future crackers.

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

The key to a great holiday cracker joke is not the same as a good joke per se. It is all about the context - in this case, the communal laughter of the Christmas dinner table with grandparents, children and potentially friends.

"You want the joke to be something that unites the eight-year-old in harmony with the 80-year-old," she adds.

The Science Of Communal Laughter

Gathering to experience shared amusement is not only nothing new, scientists say, it is probably to be older than humanity.

"So when you are laughing with others around the Christmas table you are engaging in what's very likely a really ancient mammal social vocalisation," explains a professor.

Shared amusement, she explains, aids in make and maintain social connections between individuals.

Researchers have found that a lack of such interactions can seriously damage both psychological and bodily health.

"The people you converse with, and laugh with, it results in enhanced amounts of endorphin release," the professor adds.

Endorphins are the body's "happy chemicals" and are produced both to reduce tension and discomfort and in reaction to pleasurable activities, such as chuckling with loved ones over a truly terrible Christmas cracker joke.

"It's not simply laughing at a silly pun with a holiday cracker," she states. "You are in fact doing a lot of the really important work of making, maintaining the connections you have with the people you love."

What Occurs Inside the Brain?

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

An awful lot occurs in response to comedy, it transpires.

Using brain scanning technology, a kind of brain scanner which indicates which parts of the brain are working harder, scientists have been able to map the areas that receive more blood.

Testing entails imaging the minds of volunteer participants and then subjecting them to a collection of humorous phrases, paired with either a non-emotional sound, or pre-recorded chuckles.

"In the scanner we observed a really fascinating activation pattern of neural activity," says the professor.

A gag stimulates not just the parts of the brain responsible for auditory processing and interpreting language, but also brain areas involved in both preparation and starting motion and those linked to vision and recall.

Combine all of this as a whole, and people listening to a joke have a complex set of brain reactions that support the laughter we experience.

The Infectious Power of Chuckles

Researchers found that when a humorous phrase is paired with chuckles there is a stronger response in the mind than the identical word when accompanied by a non-emotional sound.

"This activation occurred in parts of the mind that you would use to move your expression into a grin or a laugh," the professor explains.

It indicates we are not just reacting to humorous words, they are reacting to the laughter that accompanies them.

Laughter, according to the expert, can be contagious.

So what does this imply for the chuckles heard at a Christmas table?

"People laugh more when you know people," she says, "and you laugh more when you like them or care for them."

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

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

The Search for the Ideal Festive Pun

Is it possible to find the perfect gag?

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

Years ago, a professor set up a scientific search for the world's funniest joke.

More than 40,000 jokes later, with scores lodged by hundreds of thousands of participants around the world, he has a better understanding than many as to what succeeds and what fails.

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

"But they also be bad jokes, puns that cause us to moan," he adds.

The more "terrible" the gag, he states the better.

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

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

"That's a shared moment around the gathering and I think it's wonderful."