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

This joke is greeted with groans that echo through a storage facility in the capital.

This describes a joke-testing meeting with a company that makes supplies for gatherings. Its repertoire features festive crackers.

The firm's founder grins, almost apologetically at the gag. But the joke has been selected and will appear in future crackers.

"The success is gauged by the gag by the volume of moans and the intensity of the groans at the table," the founder says.

The secret to a good Christmas cracker joke is not the identical as a good joke per se. It is entirely about the setting - in this instance, the shared laughter of the holiday dinner table with elders, kids and potentially neighbours.

"You want the joke to be a thing that brings the child together with the grandparent," she states.

The Neuroscience Behind Shared Amusement

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

"Therefore when you are laughing with others at the Christmas table you are engaging in what's very likely a really primordial mammalian social vocalisation," says a neuroscience expert.

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

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

"The people you talk to, and share laughter with, it leads to enhanced amounts of endorphin release," the professor continues.

Endorphins are the body's "feel-good compounds" and are produced both to reduce stress and pain and in response to pleasurable activities, such as laughing with friends over a particularly awful Christmas cracker gag.

"It's not simply laughing at a foolish joke with a Christmas cracker," she states. "You are in fact doing a lot of the truly important work of building, preserving the social bonds you have with those you love."

Which Happens In the Brain?

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

An awful lot happens in reaction to comedy, it turns out.

Using brain scanning technology, a kind of neural imager which shows which areas of the brain are working harder, researchers have been able to map the areas that get more blood.

The research involves imaging the minds of volunteer subjects and then subjecting them to a database of humorous words, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or recorded chuckles.

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

A gag stimulates not just the areas of the mind responsible for hearing and interpreting language, but also neural areas associated with both planning and starting motion and those linked to sight and recall.

Combine all of this together, and people listening to a joke have a sophisticated set of brain reactions that support the amusement we hear.

The Contagious Power of Chuckles

Researchers found that when a funny phrase is paired with laughter there is a stronger reaction in the brain than the same phrase when followed by a neutral sound.

"This was in areas of the brain that you would employ to contort your face into a grin or a laugh," she says.

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

Amusement, according to the expert, can be contagious.

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

"You laugh harder when you are familiar with people," she notes, "and you laugh more when you like them or care for them."

When it comes to festive cracker puns, she says, 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 pun, and it's just a reason to laugh together."

The Search for the Perfect Cracker Joke

Is it possible to find the perfect gag?

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

Years ago, a psychologist set up a scientific project for the world's funniest joke.

Over tens of thousands of gags submitted, with scores provided by 350,000 people globally, he has a clearer understanding than many as to what works and what does not.

The perfect Christmas cracker pun must be brief, he explains.

"But they also need to be poor jokes, puns that cause us to moan," he adds.

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

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

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

"That's a common experience around the gathering and I think it's wonderful."