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"What was the price did Santa's sled cost? Zero, it was on the house."

This one-liner is greeted with moans that echo through a storage facility in the capital.

This describes a joke-testing session with a firm that makes products for social events. Its catalogue features Christmas crackers.

The firm's owner smiles, nearly apologetically at the gag. But the pun has made the cut and will appear in upcoming crackers.

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

The key to a good Christmas cracker pun is not the same as a stand-up joke in itself. It is all about the context - in this instance, the communal amusement of the Christmas dinner table with grandparents, children and potentially neighbours.

"You want the joke to be a thing that brings the eight-year-old in harmony with the 80-year-old," she states.

The Science Of Communal Amusement

Coming together to enjoy communal amusement is not only ancient, experts argue, it is likely to be pre-human.

"So when you are laughing with others around the Christmas table you are dropping into what's almost certainly a truly ancient mammalian play vocalisation," explains a professor.

Communal laughter, she says, aids in forge and strengthen social connections between people.

Researchers have discovered that a lack of such interactions can seriously harm both psychological and bodily well-being.

"The people you talk to, and laugh with, it leads to enhanced levels of endorphin uptake," the professor adds.

Endorphins are the body's "happy chemicals" and are released both to reduce stress and pain and in reaction to enjoyable experiences, such as laughing with friends over a particularly terrible Christmas cracker joke.

"It's not simply chuckling at a foolish pun with a holiday cracker," she states. "You are actually doing a lot of the really important work of making, maintaining the social bonds you have with those you care about."

Which Occurs In the Brain?

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

A tremendous amount happens in reaction to humour, it transpires.

Employing brain scanning technology, a type of brain scanner which shows which parts of the mind are working harder, researchers have been able to map the regions that get more blood.

The research entails scanning the brains of volunteer subjects and then subjecting them to a collection of funny phrases, paired with either a non-emotional sound, or pre-recorded laughter.

"In the scanner we observed a really fascinating pattern of neural activity," says the neuroscientist.

A joke activates not just the parts of the brain in charge of auditory processing and interpreting language, but also brain regions associated with both preparation and starting motion and those involved in vision and recall.

Put these elements together, and individuals hearing a joke have a sophisticated series of neural responses that support the laughter we hear.

The Infectious Nature of Laughter

Scientists discovered that when a humorous word is paired with laughter there is a greater reaction in the mind than the same word when followed by a non-emotional sound.

"This was in parts of the brain that you would employ to move your face into a smile or a laugh," she says.

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

Laughter, according to the expert, can be infectious.

So what does this imply for the laughter heard at a holiday gathering?

"People laugh harder when you are familiar with others," she notes, "and laughter increases further when you are fond of them or care for them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker puns, she explains, the positive factor is more probable to be triggered not by the gag in itself, but from the reaction to it.

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

The Quest for the Ideal Festive Pun

Is it possible to find the perfect gag?

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

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

Over 40,000 gags later, with ratings provided by hundreds of thousands of participants around the world, he has a clearer understanding than most as to what works and what does not.

The ideal Christmas cracker joke must be brief, he explains.

"But they also need to be bad jokes, puns that cause us to groan," he continues.

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

"The reason is that if no-one finds it funny – it's the gag's fault, not yours.

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

"That's a common experience at the gathering and I think it's lovely."