Shapiro’s efforts first began with the creation of Hoops In Vegas.  The event, held at Peter Morton’s Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, integrated a Roast and Comedy Night with a Celebrity / Pro basketball game featuring some of the biggest and greatest NBA Stars.  Following three successful fundraising years of Hoops, a “big hearted” Tom Arnold agreed to the title of a new event…the “Tom Arnold Celebrity Roast” and the rest is history.  Throughout the years, both of these events have “honored / roasted” an amazing line-up of people including Ed McMahon, James Cameron, Budd Friedman, Pat O’Brien, Stan Winston, Leslie Moonves and Steve Tisch.

Shapiro is Chairman and co-owner of Westside Estate Agency, one of the most pre-eminent high priced real estate agencies in the country with an average sale of almost $4,000,000. Located in Beverly Hills , Shapiro and his partner, Kurt Rappaport, created the agency in 1999. Since then it has become one of the westside’s premiere real estate businesses handling billions of dollars in transactions each year.

    The nine Co-Chairs for this year’s Roast are an impressive line-up and include Tom Arnold, Skip Bronson, Richard Ehrlich,  Ric Kayne, Peter Morton, Charles Perez, Steve Tisch, Casey Wasserman, and Paul Zimmerman.  The Fifth Annual Tom Arnold Celebrity Roast begins with a 7PM cocktail reception, followed by dinner and a live auction with Tom Arnold as the celebrity auctioneer. Guests will bid on once-in-a-life time experiences, exquisite culinary encounters at Katana and IL Sole,  luxury getaways on a private Gulfstream IV for eight people to Vegas, NetJets Citation Ultra jet to Aspen for four people, A day of golf at the exclusive Stone Eagle Golf Club via a Bell 430 helicopter, a walk-on part to the hip & edgy show NIP/TUCK, and an exquisite necklace by Loree Rodkin valued at over $13,000.

Following the auction will be the infamous ROAST at 9PM where Shapiro will be the target for well-known comics Bob Saget, Jamie Kennedy, Vinnie Favorito, Brody Stevens and several others still to be named.  Tickets for the event start at $750 per person and are available by calling Blue Sky Concepts, Inc. at (310) 649-6239 or email: BlueSkyConcepts@aol.com.

The comedic evening will benefit the Kayne Eras Center in Culver City , CA .  The Kayne Eras Center is a state certified, nonpublic school that provides an alternative to public school placement for children who are "at risk" of not succeeding in the mainstream because of disabilities or negative circumstances in which they live.  Barbara Cull, who recognized the gap that existed in education resources and services for special needs children and their families, founded it in 1980. More information on this amazing facility can be found at www.kayneeras.org or by calling 310-737-9393.