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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 warehouse in the capital.

This describes a joke-testing session with a firm that produces products for social events. Its catalogue includes festive crackers.

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

"You measure the joke by the volume of groans and the loudness of the groans at the table," she explains.

The secret to a great Christmas cracker joke is not the same as a stand-up joke in itself. It is entirely about the context - in this case, the shared laughter of the Christmas dinner table with elders, kids and potentially friends.

"You want the gag to be something that unites the child together with the 80-year-old," she adds.

The Neuroscience Behind Shared Amusement

Coming together to enjoy shared laughter is not only ancient, experts argue, it is likely to be older than humanity.

"Therefore when you are laughing with people around the Christmas dinner you are dropping into what's very likely a really primordial mammal social vocalisation," says a neuroscience expert.

Shared laughter, she explains, aids in forge and strengthen social bonds between individuals.

Researchers have discovered that a lack of such interactions can seriously damage mental and physical health.

"The people you talk to, and share laughter with, it leads to enhanced levels of endorphin uptake," the professor continues.

These natural chemicals are the body's "feel-good compounds" and are released both to alleviate stress and pain and in response to pleasurable activities, such as chuckling with friends over a truly terrible festive cracker joke.

"You're not just chuckling at a silly pun with a Christmas cracker," she says. "You are in fact performing a lot of the really vital task of building, preserving the connections you have with those you care about."

Which Occurs In the Mind?

But what is truly happening within the mind when we listen to a gag?

A tremendous amount happens in reaction to comedy, it turns out.

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

Testing entails imaging the brains of healthy subjects and then exposing them to a collection of funny phrases, paired with either a non-emotional sound, or pre-recorded chuckles.

"In the scanner we observed a really interesting pattern of neural activity," notes the neuroscientist.

A gag stimulates not just the areas of the mind responsible for hearing and understanding speech, but also neural regions associated with both preparation and starting motion and those involved in sight and recall.

Put these elements as a whole, and people listening to a joke have a sophisticated set of neural responses that underpin the amusement we experience.

The Infectious Nature of Chuckles

Scientists found that when a humorous phrase is combined with chuckles there is a greater reaction in the mind than the identical phrase when accompanied by a non-emotional sound.

"This activation occurred in parts of the mind that you would employ to contort your face into a smile or a laugh," she explains.

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

Amusement, according to the professor, can be infectious.

So what does this mean for the laughter heard at a Christmas table?

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

When it comes to festive cracker puns, she says, the positive factor is more probable to be triggered not by the joke in itself, but from the response to it.

"The laughter is key. The gag is the dreadful Christmas cracker pun, and it's just a reason to chuckle together."

The Quest for the Perfect Cracker Joke

Is it possible to discover the perfect joke?

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

Years ago, a psychologist set up a scientific project for the world's most humorous joke.

Over tens of thousands of gags submitted, with scores lodged 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 pun needs to be brief, he says.

"They must also be poor jokes, puns that cause us to groan," he adds.

The more "awful" the gag, he says the better.

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

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

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