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"How much did Father Christmas's sled cost? Nothing, it was on the house."

This quip is greeted with groans that echo through a storage facility in the capital.

We're at a humor-evaluation session with a company that produces supplies for social events. Its repertoire includes festive crackers.

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

"You measure the gag by the volume of moans and the loudness of the groans around the table," she explains.

The secret to a good Christmas cracker pun is not the identical as a stand-up joke in itself. It is entirely about the setting - in this instance, the communal amusement of the Christmas dinner table with elders, kids and possibly neighbours.

"The goal is for the joke to be a thing that unites the eight-year-old in harmony with the grandparent," she adds.

The Science Behind Communal Amusement

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

"Therefore when you are chuckling with people around the Christmas dinner you are dropping into what's very likely a truly primordial mammal social vocalisation," says a neuroscience expert.

Communal laughter, she says, helps forge and strengthen social connections between individuals.

Scientists have found that a absence of these social exchanges can significantly harm mental and physical well-being.

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

Endorphins are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are released both to alleviate stress and pain and in response to pleasurable activities, such as chuckling with loved ones over a particularly awful festive cracker joke.

"You're not just laughing at a silly joke with a holiday cracker," the expert states. "You are in fact performing a lot of the really vital work of building, preserving the connections you have with the people you care about."

What Occurs Inside the Brain?

But what is actually taking place within the mind when we hear a gag?

A tremendous amount occurs in reaction to comedy, it turns out.

Employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a type of neural imager which shows which areas of the brain are working harder, scientists have been able to chart the regions that receive more blood flow.

The research entails imaging the brains of healthy subjects and then subjecting them to a collection of humorous phrases, paired with either a non-emotional sound, or recorded chuckles.

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

A joke stimulates not just the areas of the brain in charge of auditory processing and understanding speech, but also brain regions involved in both planning and initiating motion and those involved in vision and recall.

Put these elements together, and people hearing a joke have a sophisticated set of brain reactions that underpin the laughter we hear.

The Infectious Nature of Chuckles

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

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

It indicates people are not just responding to humorous jokes, they are responding to the amusement that accompanies them.

Laughter, according to the expert, can be contagious.

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

"You laugh harder when you know others," she says, "and laughter increases more when you like them or care for them."

When it comes to festive cracker jokes, she explains, the positive effect is more probable to be triggered not by the gag in itself, but from the response to it.

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

The Quest for the Ideal Cracker Joke

Will we ever find the ultimate gag?

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

Years ago, a professor set up a scientific search for the planet's funniest gag.

Over tens of thousands of jokes later, with ratings provided by hundreds of thousands of participants globally, he has a clearer idea than most as to what works and what fails.

The perfect festive cracker joke needs to be short, he explains.

"But they also need to be poor gags, jokes that make us groan," he adds.

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

"The reason is that if no-one finds it funny – it's the gag's fault, not yours.

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

"It creates a common moment at the gathering and I think it's lovely."