She gained some success in stand up and was a notable comedian in San Francisco in the early 1980s. In 1982, along with Kit Hollerbach, Nora Dunn, Susan Healy, Paula Poundstone and the improv group Femprov, she participated in a benefit for Big Sisters Friday at Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. She also cohosted a television show with Wes "Scoop" Nisker, "Video West", on Channel 26 on Wednesday and Saturday nights in 1979. Dornacker and Nisker were the MCs for the Bay Area Theater Critics' Circle Awards in May, 1983.