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

This quip is greeted with groans that echo through a warehouse in the capital.

We're at a humor-evaluation session with a firm that makes supplies for gatherings. Its catalogue includes festive crackers.

The company's owner grins, almost sheepishly at the joke. But the pun has made the cut and will feature in upcoming crackers.

"The success is gauged by 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 pun is not the identical as a stand-up gag per se. It is entirely about the setting - in this instance, the communal amusement of the holiday meal with grandparents, children and possibly neighbours.

"The goal is for the joke to be a thing that brings the child in harmony with the 80-year-old," she states.

The Science Behind Communal Laughter

Gathering to experience communal laughter is not only nothing new, scientists say, it is likely to be older than humanity.

"So when you are laughing with people at the Christmas table you are dropping into what's almost certainly a really primordial mammalian social sound," explains a professor.

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

Researchers have discovered that a lack of these social exchanges can significantly damage both psychological and bodily well-being.

"Those you talk to, and laugh with, it results in enhanced levels of 'happy chemical' release," the professor adds.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "feel-good compounds" and are produced both to reduce tension and discomfort and in response to enjoyable experiences, such as chuckling with friends over a particularly awful festive cracker joke.

"It's not simply laughing at a silly pun with a Christmas cracker," she states. "You are in fact performing a lot of the really vital task of building, preserving the social bonds you have with those you love."

What Happens Inside the Mind?

But what is truly taking place inside the brain when we listen to a gag?

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

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

The research entails imaging the brains of healthy subjects and then exposing them to a collection of funny words, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or pre-recorded chuckles.

"During the study we got a really interesting pattern of activation," notes the neuroscientist.

A gag stimulates not just the parts of the mind responsible for hearing and understanding language, but also neural areas involved in both planning and initiating movement and those involved in vision and recall.

Combine these elements together, and individuals hearing a pun have a complex series of neural reactions that support the laughter we experience.

The Infectious Power of Chuckles

Scientists found that when a funny phrase is combined with chuckles there is a greater reaction in the brain than the same phrase when accompanied by a non-emotional sound.

"This was in parts of the brain that you would use to move your face into a smile or a laugh," the professor explains.

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

Amusement, says the expert, can be contagious.

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

"You laugh harder when you know others," she says, "and you laugh more when you like them or care for them."

When it comes to festive cracker puns, she explains, the positive 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 dreadful holiday cracker pun, and it's just a reason to chuckle together."

The Search for the Perfect Festive Pun

Will we ever find the perfect joke?

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

In 2001, a professor set up a scientific project for the world's funniest joke.

Over 40,000 jokes later, with scores lodged by hundreds of thousands of people around the world, he has a clearer idea than most as to what succeeds and what does not.

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

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

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

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

"The fascinating part about the holiday cracker puns is that none of us considers them funny.

"That's a common experience at the gathering and I believe it's wonderful."