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

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

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

The company's owner grins, nearly apologetically at the joke. But the pun has been selected and will feature in future crackers.

"You measure the joke by the volume of groans and the intensity of the groans around the table," she explains.

The key to a great holiday cracker pun is not the same as a good joke per se. It is all about the setting - in this case, the communal amusement of the Christmas dinner table with elders, kids and potentially neighbours.

"You want the gag to be something that brings the child together with the grandparent," she states.

The Science Behind Communal Laughter

Gathering to enjoy shared laughter is not only nothing new, experts say, it is probably to be pre-human.

"So when you are chuckling with people around the holiday table you are dropping into what's almost certainly a truly ancient mammalian social sound," says a neuroscience expert.

Communal amusement, she explains, aids in make and maintain social bonds between people.

Scientists have discovered that a lack of such social exchanges can significantly harm both psychological and bodily well-being.

"The people you talk to, and laugh with, it leads to enhanced amounts of endorphin release," she adds.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are released both to reduce tension and discomfort and in response to enjoyable activities, such as chuckling with loved ones over a truly terrible festive cracker joke.

"It's not simply laughing at a silly joke with a Christmas cracker," she says. "You are in fact doing a lot of the truly important work of making, maintaining the connections you have with those you love."

What Occurs In the Mind?

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

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

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a type of brain scanner which shows which parts of the mind are more active, researchers have been able to map the areas that receive more blood flow.

Testing entails scanning the brains of volunteer subjects and then subjecting them to a collection of humorous words, accompanied by either a neutral sound, or recorded laughter.

"In the scanner we got a really fascinating activation pattern of activation," says the neuroscientist.

A joke stimulates not just the areas of the mind in charge of hearing and understanding speech, but also brain areas associated with both preparation and starting motion and those involved in vision and recall.

Combine these elements as a whole, and individuals hearing a joke have a sophisticated series of neural reactions that support the laughter we experience.

The Infectious Nature of Laughter

Researchers discovered that when a humorous word is paired with laughter there is a greater reaction in the mind than the identical word when accompanied by a non-emotional sound.

"This activation occurred in areas of the mind that you would use to contort your expression into a smile or a chuckle," she explains.

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

Amusement, says the expert, can be infectious.

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

"You laugh harder when you know others," she says, "and you laugh further when you like them or love them."

When it comes to festive cracker jokes, she says, the feel-good effect is more likely to be caused not by the gag in itself, but from the response to it.

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

The Search for the Ideal 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 research project for the world's funniest joke.

More than 40,000 gags submitted, with ratings provided by hundreds of thousands of participants around the world, he has a better understanding than most as to what succeeds and what fails.

The perfect festive cracker joke needs to be brief, he explains.

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

The more "terrible" the joke, he states the better.

"This is because if no-one laughs – it's the gag's shortcoming, not yours.

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

"That's a common experience at the gathering and I believe it's wonderful."