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

This joke is greeted with groans that resonate through a storage facility in the capital.

We're at a humor-evaluation meeting with a company that produces products for gatherings. Its catalogue includes festive crackers.

The company's owner grins, almost sheepishly at the joke. But the pun has been selected and will appear in future crackers.

"The success is gauged by the joke by the number of groans and the intensity of the groans at the table," she says.

The key to a good holiday cracker joke is not the identical as a good gag in itself. It is all about the setting - in this case, the shared amusement of the Christmas dinner table with grandparents, children and possibly friends.

"You want the gag to be a thing that unites the child together with the grandparent," she states.

The Science Behind Shared Amusement

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

"So when you are laughing with people around the Christmas dinner you are engaging in what's very likely a really ancient mammal play sound," explains a professor.

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

Scientists have discovered that a lack of these interactions can significantly harm mental and physical well-being.

"The people you converse with, and laugh with, it results in enhanced amounts of endorphin release," the professor adds.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "feel-good compounds" and are released both to reduce tension and discomfort and in reaction to pleasurable experiences, such as laughing with friends over a particularly terrible Christmas cracker joke.

"You're not just chuckling at a foolish joke with a Christmas cracker," the expert says. "You are actually performing a lot of the really important work of building, preserving the connections you have with the people you care about."

Which Happens In the Brain?

But what is truly happening within the brain when we listen to a joke?

An awful lot happens in response to comedy, it turns out.

Using brain scanning technology, a type of neural imager which shows which parts of the mind are working harder, scientists have been able to map the areas that get more blood.

The research entails imaging the minds of healthy subjects and then subjecting them to a collection of funny words, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or recorded chuckles.

"In the scanner we got a really fascinating pattern of neural activity," says the professor.

A joke activates not just the areas of the brain responsible for auditory processing and understanding speech, but also brain areas involved in both preparation and initiating motion and those involved in vision and memory.

Put all of this as a whole, and individuals hearing a pun have a sophisticated set of brain reactions that underpin the amusement we experience.

The Contagious Nature of Laughter

Scientists discovered that when a funny phrase is combined with chuckles there is a greater reaction in the brain than the same phrase when followed by a non-emotional sound.

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

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

Laughter, according to the professor, can be infectious.

So what does this imply for the laughter found at a holiday table?

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

When it comes to Christmas cracker jokes, she says, the positive effect is more probable to be caused not by the joke in itself, but from the response to it.

"The laughter is key. The joke is the dreadful holiday cracker pun, and it's just a pretext to chuckle as a group."

The Quest for the Perfect Festive Pun

Is it possible to find the ultimate joke?

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

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

More than tens of thousands of jokes submitted, with ratings provided by 350,000 participants around the world, he has a better understanding than most as to what succeeds and what fails.

The ideal Christmas cracker joke needs to be short, he explains.

"But they also be poor gags, puns that make us moan," he continues.

The more "terrible" the gag, he says the more effective.

"The reason is that if nobody laughs – it's the gag's fault, not your own.

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

"It creates a shared moment at the table and I believe it's wonderful."