Sherman may best be known for his solo Spectacle performances, which usually took the form of quick-paced interactions with everyday objects over a table top. He created and performed eighteen Spectacles in total, twelve of which he performed solo, and six with groups of collaborators. A prominent theme of the Spectacles was Sherman's playful use of scale, either in the amplification of small gestures and details or the miniaturization of theatrical spectacle.

Though taking the characteristic form of a performance over a table top, the Thirteenth Spectacle also incorporates the playback of a tape recorder to layer pre-recorded sounds onto Sherman's manipulations of objects.