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"How much did Father Christmas's sleigh cost? Zero, it was on the house."

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

This describes a humor-evaluation meeting with a firm that makes products for gatherings. Its catalogue features festive crackers.

The firm's founder grins, nearly sheepishly at the joke. But the pun has made the cut and will appear in future crackers.

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

The key to a good Christmas cracker pun is not the identical as a stand-up gag per se. It is entirely about the setting - in this case, the shared amusement of the Christmas meal with grandparents, children and potentially friends.

"The goal is for the joke to be something that unites the child in harmony with the grandparent," she adds.

The Neuroscience Of Shared Laughter

Gathering to experience shared amusement is not only nothing new, scientists argue, it is probably to be older than humanity.

"So when you are laughing with people at the holiday dinner you are engaging in what's very likely a truly primordial mammalian play sound," explains a neuroscience expert.

Communal laughter, she explains, aids in forge and strengthen social bonds between individuals.

Scientists have found that a absence of these interactions can significantly damage mental and physical well-being.

"The people you talk to, and laugh with, it leads to increased levels of endorphin uptake," she adds.

Endorphins are the body's "happy chemicals" and are released both to reduce tension and discomfort and in response to pleasurable experiences, such as laughing with friends over a truly terrible Christmas cracker joke.

"You're not just chuckling at a foolish pun with a Christmas cracker," she says. "You are actually performing a lot of the really vital task of building, preserving the social bonds you have with those you care about."

Which Happens Inside the Brain?

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

An awful lot occurs in response to comedy, it transpires.

Employing brain scanning technology, a type of brain scanner which indicates which areas of the mind are more active, scientists have been able to map the areas that receive more blood flow.

The research involves imaging the minds of volunteer subjects and then exposing them to a collection of humorous phrases, accompanied by either a neutral sound, or recorded laughter.

"During the study we observed a very fascinating activation pattern of activation," notes the professor.

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

Put these elements as a whole, and people listening to a joke have a complex series of brain responses that underpin the amusement we hear.

The Infectious Power of Laughter

Researchers discovered that when a funny word is combined with chuckles there is a stronger response in the mind than the identical phrase when followed by a non-emotional sound.

"This activation occurred in parts of the mind that you would use to contort your face into a grin or a laugh," she says.

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

Amusement, says the expert, can be infectious.

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

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

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

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

The Search for the Perfect Festive Pun

Is it possible to find the perfect joke?

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

Years ago, a professor set up a research search for the planet's funniest joke.

More than 40,000 gags submitted, with scores provided by 350,000 people around the world, he has a clearer understanding than most as to what succeeds and what does not.

The perfect festive cracker pun must be short, he says.

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

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

"This is because if no-one finds it funny – it's the joke's shortcoming, not yours.

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

"That's a shared experience around the table and I think it's wonderful."