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

This quip is met by moans that echo through a warehouse in the capital.

We're at a humor-evaluation session with a company that makes products for gatherings. Its repertoire includes Christmas crackers.

The company's owner grins, nearly apologetically at the gag. But the joke has made the cut and will appear in upcoming crackers.

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

The secret to a good holiday cracker joke is not the same as a good gag in itself. It is entirely about the context - in this case, the shared amusement of the holiday dinner table with elders, kids and potentially friends.

"The goal is for the gag to be a thing that brings the child together with the grandparent," she states.

The Science Behind Shared Laughter

Gathering to experience shared laughter is not only ancient, scientists argue, it is likely to be older than humanity.

"So when you are laughing with others at the Christmas dinner you are dropping into what's very likely a really ancient mammalian play vocalisation," explains a professor.

Shared laughter, she says, aids in make and maintain social connections between individuals.

Scientists have discovered that a absence of these social exchanges can significantly damage both psychological and bodily well-being.

"Those you talk to, and share laughter with, it leads to enhanced amounts of endorphin uptake," the professor continues.

These natural chemicals are the body's "happy chemicals" and are released both to alleviate stress and pain and in reaction to enjoyable activities, such as laughing with friends over a truly awful festive cracker gag.

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

What Occurs Inside the Brain?

But what is actually happening within the brain when we hear a joke?

An awful lot occurs in reaction to humour, it turns out.

Using brain scanning technology, a type of brain scanner which shows which areas of the brain are working harder, researchers have been able to map the regions that receive more blood flow.

Testing involves imaging the minds of healthy participants and then subjecting them to a database of funny phrases, paired with either a non-emotional sound, or recorded laughter.

"During the study we got a really fascinating pattern of neural activity," says the neuroscientist.

A gag stimulates not just the parts of the mind responsible for auditory processing and interpreting speech, but also brain regions involved in both preparation and initiating motion and those linked to vision and recall.

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

The Contagious Power of Laughter

Scientists found that when a funny word is combined with chuckles there is a greater response in the mind than the identical word when accompanied by a non-emotional sound.

"This was in areas of the mind that you would employ to contort your expression into a grin or a chuckle," she says.

It means we are not just reacting to humorous jokes, they are reacting to the laughter that accompanies them.

Amusement, says the expert, can be contagious.

So what does this mean for the chuckles heard around a Christmas gathering?

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

When it comes to festive cracker jokes, she says, the positive factor is more likely to be caused not by the gag itself, but from the reaction to it.

"The laughter is key. The gag is the terrible holiday cracker joke, and it's just a pretext to chuckle together."

The Quest for the Perfect Festive Pun

Is it possible to discover the perfect joke?

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

In 2001, a psychologist established a scientific project for the planet's most humorous gag.

Over 40,000 gags submitted, with scores provided by 350,000 participants globally, he has a better idea than most as to what succeeds and what does not.

The perfect Christmas cracker pun must be short, he explains.

"They must also need to be poor gags, jokes that cause us to moan," he continues.

The increasingly "terrible" the joke, he says the better.

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

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

"That's a common experience at the table and I believe it's lovely."