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

This joke is met by groans that echo through a storage facility in the capital.

This describes a humor-evaluation meeting with a company that produces products for social events. Its catalogue features Christmas crackers.

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

"You measure the joke by the number of moans and the intensity of the groans around the table," the founder says.

The secret to a great Christmas cracker joke is not the identical as a good joke in itself. It is all about the context - in this case, the shared amusement of the Christmas meal with elders, children and possibly friends.

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

The Neuroscience Behind Communal Laughter

Coming together to enjoy communal laughter is not only ancient, experts say, it is probably to be pre-human.

"Therefore when you are laughing with others around the holiday table you are engaging in what's very likely a really primordial mammalian play vocalisation," explains a neuroscience expert.

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

Scientists have found that a lack of these social exchanges can seriously harm both psychological and bodily health.

"Those you converse with, and share laughter with, it results in enhanced amounts of 'happy chemical' release," she adds.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are released both to alleviate tension and discomfort and in reaction to enjoyable experiences, such as chuckling with loved ones over a truly awful festive cracker gag.

"You're not just chuckling at a silly joke with a holiday cracker," the expert says. "You are actually performing a lot of the really vital task of building, preserving the social bonds you have with the people you love."

Which Occurs In the Mind?

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

A tremendous amount occurs in reaction to humour, it turns out.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a kind of brain scanner which shows which areas of the brain are more active, scientists have been able to chart the areas that get more blood flow.

Testing entails scanning the minds of healthy subjects and then exposing them to a database of humorous words, paired with either a non-emotional sound, or recorded chuckles.

"During the study we observed a really interesting activation pattern of neural activity," notes the neuroscientist.

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

Put these elements as a whole, and individuals hearing a joke have a sophisticated set of brain reactions that support the amusement we experience.

The Contagious Nature of Laughter

Scientists found that when a humorous phrase is paired with chuckles there is a greater reaction in the brain than the identical word when accompanied by a neutral sound.

"This was in areas of the brain that you would employ to contort your face into a grin or a chuckle," the professor explains.

It means we are not just reacting to funny words, they are responding to the laughter that follows them.

Laughter, according to the expert, can be infectious.

So what does this imply for the laughter heard around a Christmas table?

"People laugh harder when you know people," she notes, "and you laugh more when you are fond of them or love them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker puns, she explains, the feel-good effect is more probable to be triggered not by the joke in itself, but from the response to it.

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

The Quest for the Ideal Cracker Joke

Is it possible to discover the perfect gag?

Likely not, but that has not stopped experts from trying to.

Years ago, a professor established a scientific search for the planet's most humorous joke.

Over tens of thousands of gags submitted, with ratings lodged by 350,000 people around the world, he has a clearer idea than most as to what works and what fails.

The ideal Christmas cracker joke must be short, he says.

"They must also need to be bad gags, puns that make us moan," he continues.

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

"The reason is that if no-one laughs – it's the gag's shortcoming, not your own.

"The fascinating part about the holiday cracker jokes is that not one person find them funny.

"It creates a common experience around the gathering and I think it's lovely."