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

This joke is met by moans that resonate through a storage facility in the capital.

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

The firm's founder smiles, almost sheepishly at the gag. But the joke has been selected and will appear in future crackers.

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

The secret to a great holiday cracker joke is not the same as a good joke per se. It is entirely about the context - in this instance, the communal amusement of the Christmas meal with elders, kids and potentially friends.

"The goal is for the joke to be a thing that unites the child in harmony with the 80-year-old," she states.

The Science Behind Shared Laughter

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

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

Communal laughter, she explains, aids in make and maintain social connections between individuals.

Researchers have discovered that a lack of these social exchanges can seriously harm both psychological and bodily well-being.

"The people you talk to, and share laughter with, it results in increased amounts of endorphin release," she adds.

Endorphins are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are produced both to reduce stress and pain and in response to pleasurable experiences, such as laughing with loved ones over a particularly terrible festive cracker gag.

"It's not simply laughing at a silly pun with a holiday cracker," she says. "You are in fact doing a lot of the truly vital task of building, preserving the social bonds you have with those you care about."

Which Happens In the Mind?

But what is truly happening inside the brain when we listen to a gag?

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

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a type of brain scanner which indicates which parts of the brain are more active, researchers have been able to chart the regions that receive more blood.

Testing entails imaging the minds of volunteer subjects and then exposing them to a database of humorous phrases, accompanied by either a neutral sound, or pre-recorded chuckles.

"During the study we got a very fascinating activation pattern of activation," notes the professor.

A gag activates not just the areas of the mind in charge of hearing and interpreting language, but also brain regions associated with both planning and initiating movement and those involved in vision and memory.

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

The Infectious Power of Laughter

Researchers found that when a humorous phrase is combined with chuckles there is a stronger response in the mind than the identical phrase when accompanied by a neutral sound.

"This was in parts of the mind that you would use to move your face into a grin or a chuckle," the professor explains.

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

Amusement, according to the expert, can be infectious.

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

"People laugh harder when you know people," she says, "and laughter increases further when you are fond of them or love them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker jokes, she says, the positive effect is more likely to be caused not by the gag itself, but from the reaction to it.

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

The Quest for the Perfect Festive Pun

Will we ever discover the ultimate gag?

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

In 2001, a professor set up a scientific project for the world's most humorous gag.

Over 40,000 jokes submitted, with scores lodged by 350,000 participants around the world, he has a clearer understanding than many as to what succeeds and what fails.

The ideal festive cracker pun needs to be brief, he says.

"They must also be poor gags, jokes that make us moan," he adds.

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

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

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

"It creates a common experience at the gathering and I believe it's lovely."