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"What was the price did Father Christmas's sleigh 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 meeting with a firm that makes supplies for gatherings. Its catalogue features festive crackers.

The company's founder smiles, almost sheepishly at the gag. But the joke has made the cut and will appear in future crackers.

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

The secret to a good holiday cracker joke is not the same as a stand-up gag in itself. It is all about the setting - in this instance, the communal laughter 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 80-year-old," she adds.

The Neuroscience Of Communal Laughter

Gathering to enjoy communal laughter is not only ancient, scientists argue, it is probably to be older than humanity.

"So when you are laughing with others around the holiday dinner you are engaging in what's very likely a really primordial mammalian social sound," explains a neuroscience expert.

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

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

"The people you talk to, and share laughter with, it results in enhanced amounts of 'happy chemical' uptake," she adds.

These natural chemicals are the body's "happy chemicals" and are released both to alleviate stress and pain and in response to pleasurable experiences, such as laughing with loved ones over a truly awful festive cracker gag.

"It's not simply chuckling at a foolish pun with a holiday cracker," she states. "You are in fact doing a lot of the really vital work of building, preserving the social bonds you have with those you love."

Which Occurs In the Mind?

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

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

Employing brain scanning technology, a kind of neural imager which indicates which parts of the mind are more active, researchers have been able to chart the areas that get more blood.

The research involves scanning the minds of volunteer participants and then exposing them to a database of humorous phrases, paired with either a neutral sound, or pre-recorded chuckles.

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

A gag activates not just the parts of the mind responsible for auditory processing and understanding speech, but also brain areas associated with both preparation and starting movement and those involved in vision and recall.

Put these elements together, and people hearing a joke have a sophisticated set of neural responses that underpin the laughter we hear.

The Contagious Power of Chuckles

Scientists found that when a funny phrase is paired with laughter there is a stronger reaction 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 move your expression into a grin or a laugh," she explains.

It indicates people are not just responding to humorous words, they are reacting to the laughter that accompanies them.

Amusement, says the expert, can be infectious.

So what does this mean for the chuckles found at a holiday gathering?

"You laugh more when you are familiar with others," she says, "and laughter increases more when you are fond of them or love them."

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

"It's the laughter. The gag is the dreadful holiday cracker pun, and it's just a reason to chuckle as a group."

The Quest for the Ideal Festive Pun

Will we ever discover the ultimate joke?

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

In 2001, a psychologist established a scientific project for the planet's funniest joke.

Over tens of thousands of jokes later, with ratings provided by 350,000 people globally, he has a better idea than many as to what succeeds and what fails.

The ideal festive cracker joke must be brief, he says.

"But they also be poor jokes, jokes that make us moan," he adds.

The increasingly "awful" the gag, he states the more effective.

"This is because if nobody finds it funny – it's the joke's shortcoming, not yours.

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

"It creates a common moment at the gathering and I believe it's lovely."