She began performing her first one-woman show called "I'm Your Woman" in 1985, and an album version was released. Bernhard appeared in a variety of tiny film and television roles throughout the 1980s while crafting her stand-up routine into a more performance art-oriented show. She launched an off-Broadway one-woman show called "Without You, I'm Nothing, With You, I'm Not Much Better" in 1988, which played at the Orpheum Theatre. In 1990 it was turned into a film and a double album of the same title. The film was mostly shot on location in 1989 in the coconut grove at the Ambassador Hotel.