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"What was the price did Santa's sleigh cost? Zero, it was on the house."

This quip is greeted with moans that resonate through a warehouse in the capital.

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

The company's owner grins, almost apologetically at the gag. But the pun has made the cut and will appear in future crackers.

"You measure the gag by the number of moans and the intensity of the groans at the table," the founder says.

The secret to a good Christmas cracker joke is not the same as a good joke per se. It is entirely about the context - in this instance, the shared laughter of the holiday dinner table with elders, children and possibly neighbours.

"The goal is for the gag to be a thing that brings the child in harmony with the grandparent," she states.

The Science Behind Communal Laughter

Coming together to experience shared laughter is not only nothing new, experts argue, it is probably to be pre-human.

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

Shared amusement, she says, helps forge and strengthen social connections between individuals.

Scientists have discovered that a absence of these social exchanges can seriously harm mental and physical health.

"Those you converse with, and share laughter with, it leads to enhanced amounts of endorphin uptake," she adds.

Endorphins are the body's "happy chemicals" and are produced both to alleviate stress and pain and in response to enjoyable experiences, such as laughing with loved ones over a particularly awful festive cracker joke.

"You're not just laughing at a foolish joke with a holiday cracker," she 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 love."

What Happens In the Brain?

But what is actually taking place inside the mind when we listen to a joke?

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

Using brain scanning technology, a type of brain scanner which shows which areas of the mind are more active, researchers have been able to chart the regions that receive more blood.

Testing involves scanning the brains of volunteer participants and then exposing them to a collection of humorous words, accompanied by either a neutral sound, or recorded chuckles.

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

A gag activates not just the areas of the brain responsible for auditory processing and interpreting language, but also brain regions associated with both preparation and initiating motion and those linked to vision and recall.

Put all of this together, and people listening to a joke have a sophisticated series of brain responses that support the laughter we experience.

The Contagious Nature of Chuckles

Scientists found that when a humorous phrase is combined with laughter there is a stronger reaction in the brain than the identical word when followed by a neutral sound.

"This activation occurred in areas of the mind that you would use to contort your face into a smile or a laugh," she says.

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

Laughter, according to the professor, can be infectious.

So what does this imply for the laughter heard around a Christmas gathering?

"People laugh more when you are familiar with people," she notes, "and you laugh further when you are fond of them or love them."

When it comes to festive cracker jokes, she explains, the positive factor is more likely to be caused not by the joke itself, but from the response to it.

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

The Search for the Perfect Cracker Joke

Will we ever discover the perfect gag?

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

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

More than 40,000 gags submitted, with ratings lodged by hundreds of thousands of people around the world, he has a clearer understanding than most as to what succeeds and what does not.

The ideal festive cracker pun needs to be short, he explains.

"But they also need to be bad jokes, jokes that make us moan," he continues.

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

"This is because if nobody finds it funny – it's the gag's shortcoming, not yours.

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

"That's a common moment around the gathering and I believe it's lovely."