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

This one-liner is greeted with moans that echo through a storage facility in the capital.

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

The company's founder smiles, nearly sheepishly at the joke. But the joke has made the cut and will appear in upcoming crackers.

"The success is gauged by the gag by the number of groans and the intensity of the groans around the table," the founder says.

The key to a great Christmas cracker joke is not the same as a good joke per se. It is all about the context - in this case, the shared amusement of the holiday meal with grandparents, kids and possibly neighbours.

"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 Of Shared Laughter

Gathering to experience communal laughter is not only nothing new, experts argue, it is probably to be older than humanity.

"So when you are chuckling with others around the Christmas dinner you are dropping into what's very likely a really primordial mammal play vocalisation," explains a neuroscience expert.

Communal amusement, she says, aids in make and maintain social bonds between people.

Scientists have discovered that a absence of these interactions can significantly harm both psychological and bodily well-being.

"The people you converse with, and laugh with, it leads to increased levels of 'happy chemical' uptake," the professor adds.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are released both to alleviate stress and pain and in reaction to enjoyable experiences, such as chuckling with friends over a truly terrible festive cracker joke.

"It's not simply laughing at a silly joke with a holiday cracker," the expert states. "You are actually doing a lot of the really important task of making, maintaining the social bonds you have with the people you love."

Which Happens In the Mind?

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

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

Using brain scanning technology, a type of neural imager which indicates which areas of the mind are more active, researchers have been able to chart the areas that get more blood.

Testing entails scanning the minds of volunteer subjects and then subjecting them to a database of funny phrases, paired with either a non-emotional sound, or pre-recorded laughter.

"In the scanner we observed a very interesting pattern of neural activity," says the professor.

A gag stimulates not just the parts of the brain in charge of hearing and interpreting language, but also brain areas involved in both planning and initiating movement and those linked to sight and recall.

Put these elements together, and individuals hearing a pun have a complex series of brain responses that support the amusement we hear.

The Contagious Nature of Chuckles

Researchers found that when a funny phrase is combined with chuckles there is a greater response in the brain than the same word when followed by a neutral sound.

"This activation occurred in parts of the brain that you would use to move your face into a grin or a chuckle," she says.

It indicates people are not just reacting to funny jokes, they are responding to the laughter that follows them.

Amusement, says the professor, can be infectious.

So what does this mean for the laughter found around a Christmas gathering?

"You laugh more when you are familiar with others," she says, "and laughter increases further when you are fond of them or care for them."

When it comes to festive cracker jokes, she says, the positive effect is more probable to be triggered not by the joke itself, but from the reaction to it.

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

The Quest for the Ideal Cracker Joke

Will we ever find the ultimate gag?

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

In 2001, a professor set up a scientific project for the planet's funniest gag.

More than 40,000 gags submitted, with ratings provided by 350,000 people around the world, he has a clearer understanding than many as to what works and what does not.

The ideal festive cracker joke must be brief, he explains.

"They must also be bad gags, puns that cause us to groan," he continues.

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

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

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

"That's a shared experience at the table and I believe it's wonderful."