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"How much did Santa's sleigh cost? Nothing, it was on the house."

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

This describes a joke-testing session with a company that produces supplies for gatherings. Its catalogue features festive crackers.

The company's owner smiles, nearly sheepishly at the gag. But the pun has made the cut and will feature in upcoming crackers.

"You measure the gag by the number of groans and the intensity of the groans around the table," she explains.

The key to a great Christmas cracker pun is not the identical as a good joke per se. It is entirely about the context - in this instance, the shared amusement of the Christmas meal with elders, kids and possibly friends.

"You want the joke to be something that unites the eight-year-old together with the grandparent," she states.

The Neuroscience Behind Shared Amusement

Coming together to experience communal amusement is not only ancient, scientists argue, it is probably to be pre-human.

"So when you are chuckling with others around the Christmas dinner you are dropping into what's almost certainly a really primordial mammalian play sound," explains a neuroscience expert.

Communal laughter, she says, aids in make and maintain social connections between people.

Researchers have found that a lack of these interactions can seriously harm mental and physical health.

"The people you converse with, and share laughter with, it results in enhanced levels of endorphin release," she adds.

These natural chemicals are the body's "feel-good compounds" and are produced both to alleviate tension and discomfort and in response to pleasurable activities, such as chuckling with friends over a particularly awful festive cracker gag.

"You're not just chuckling at a foolish joke with a Christmas cracker," she states. "You are in fact doing a lot of the really important task of making, maintaining the connections you have with those you care about."

What Occurs Inside the Mind?

But what is truly happening inside the mind when we hear a gag?

An awful lot occurs in reaction to humour, it transpires.

Using brain scanning technology, a kind of neural imager which indicates which areas of the mind are working harder, scientists have been able to chart the areas that receive more blood.

Testing involves imaging the minds of volunteer participants and then exposing them to a collection of funny phrases, paired with either a non-emotional sound, or recorded chuckles.

"During the study we got a really interesting activation pattern of activation," notes the neuroscientist.

A gag stimulates not just the parts of the brain in charge of hearing and interpreting speech, but also neural areas associated with both preparation and initiating movement and those linked to sight and recall.

Put all of this together, and people listening to a pun have a sophisticated series of neural responses that underpin the laughter we experience.

The Contagious Power of Laughter

Scientists found that when a funny word is combined with chuckles there is a greater reaction in the brain than the identical word when accompanied by a neutral sound.

"This was in parts of the brain that you would employ to contort your expression into a smile or a laugh," she explains.

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

Amusement, says the expert, can be contagious.

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

"You laugh harder when you are familiar with others," she says, "and you laugh more when you like them or care for them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker jokes, she says, the feel-good effect is more likely to be triggered not by the joke itself, but from the response to it.

"The laughter is key. The gag is the terrible holiday cracker joke, and it's just a reason to laugh as a group."

The Quest for the Perfect Festive Pun

Is it possible to find the ultimate gag?

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

In 2001, a professor set up a research search for the planet's most humorous gag.

Over 40,000 jokes later, with scores lodged by 350,000 people around the world, he has a clearer understanding than most as to what works and what does not.

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

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

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

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

"What's interesting about the Christmas cracker jokes is that not one person considers them humorous.

"It creates a shared experience around the table and I think it's wonderful."