Imagine Netflix died. What happens to stand-up comedy?

This may seem like an outlandish hypothetical since Netflix is the most powerful player in comedy today. But in the current media landscape, when major new streaming services will be entering the market in the new year including Disney and AT&T (which owns HBO), uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. This quarter, for the first time ever, Netflix lost American subscribers and its stock price plunged. Meanwhile, entertainment companies including HBO and Amazon Prime are positioning themselves as alternatives with new specials from Jim Gaffigan and Julio Torres that signal two very different strategies.

Considering its major resources, Amazon Prime always seemed like the biggest potential threat to Netflix’s stranglehold on stand-up, and this month it presents its first original stand-up special, Jim Gaffigan’s “Quality Time,” which premieres next Friday. The streamer, which already has a sizable library of specials produced by HBO, Showtime and others, will release four more original specials next week, and it recently shot the inaugural hour from Ilana Glazer (“Broad City”). These are all from Comedy Dynamics, the behemoth producer and distributor behind the recent boom in specials.

Debuting with Gaffigan is a savvy choice: He’s no next big thing: “Quality Time” is his seventh special and he’s one of the most broadly popular comedians working today. But he can get a bit lost on Netflix because his family-friendly material can seem too safe to make news or stand out in a crowded screen filled with big names.