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

This joke is greeted with moans that echo through a warehouse in the capital.

This describes a humor-evaluation meeting with a firm that produces products for social events. Its repertoire includes Christmas crackers.

The firm's founder smiles, nearly apologetically at the gag. But the joke has been selected and will feature in upcoming crackers.

"The success is gauged by the gag by the volume of moans and the loudness of the groans at the table," she says.

The key to a great Christmas cracker pun is not the identical as a stand-up joke in itself. It is all about the setting - in this case, the communal laughter of the holiday meal with grandparents, kids and possibly friends.

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

The Science Of Shared Laughter

Coming together to experience communal amusement is not only nothing new, scientists say, it is likely to be pre-human.

"So when you are chuckling with people around the Christmas dinner you are engaging in what's almost certainly a really ancient mammal play sound," says a neuroscience expert.

Shared amusement, she explains, aids in make and maintain social bonds between individuals.

Scientists have found that a lack of these social exchanges can seriously damage both psychological and bodily well-being.

"The people you converse with, and laugh with, it leads to enhanced amounts of endorphin uptake," she continues.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are released both to reduce tension and discomfort and in response to pleasurable experiences, such as laughing with friends over a particularly terrible festive cracker gag.

"You're not just laughing at a silly joke with a holiday cracker," the expert says. "You are actually doing a lot of the really important work of building, preserving the connections you have with the people you love."

Which Occurs Inside the Brain?

But what is truly happening inside the mind when we listen to a joke?

A tremendous amount occurs in response to comedy, it transpires.

Employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a type of brain scanner which shows which areas of the brain are working harder, researchers have been able to map the areas that receive more blood.

Testing involves scanning the minds of volunteer participants and then subjecting them to a collection of humorous phrases, accompanied by either a neutral sound, or recorded laughter.

"In the scanner we observed a very fascinating pattern of neural activity," notes the professor.

A gag activates not just the parts of the brain responsible for hearing and understanding language, but also neural regions involved in both preparation and starting motion and those linked to sight and recall.

Put all of this together, and people listening to a joke have a complex set of brain reactions that underpin the amusement we experience.

The Contagious Nature of Chuckles

Researchers discovered that when a funny phrase is paired with laughter there is a greater response in the mind than the same phrase when followed by a neutral sound.

"This was in parts of the mind that you would employ to move your face into a grin or a chuckle," she says.

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

Laughter, says the professor, can be contagious.

So what does this mean for the chuckles found at a Christmas table?

"People laugh harder when you are familiar with people," she notes, "and laughter increases more when you like them or care for them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker puns, she explains, the positive effect is more likely to be caused not by the joke itself, but from the reaction to it.

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

The Search for the Perfect Festive Pun

Will we ever discover the ultimate joke?

Likely not, but that has not prevented experts from attempting to.

Years ago, a psychologist established a research search for the planet's funniest gag.

Over tens of thousands of gags submitted, with ratings provided by 350,000 people globally, he has a clearer understanding than many as to what works and what does not.

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

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

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

"The reason is that if nobody finds it funny – it's the joke's fault, not your own.

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

"It creates a common moment around the table and I believe it's wonderful."