Mitch Laurance - Part 4 (“There’s Ladies Here”: Mitch Laurance on Ava’s Orbit, Instant Family, and Accidentally Becoming ESPN’s Voice)
In Episode 4 of our six-part conversation with actor, producer, and longtime billiards broadcaster Mitch Laurance, the story turns on a single moment in Winston-Salem that changed everything.
Mitch takes us back to 1990—sent to “go play pool” at a charity night during a golf event—only to find two tables… and two legends. On one side: Nick Varner. On the other: a Swedish star with “green laser eyes,” Ewa Mataya, already at the top of her game. Mitch hadn’t come looking for love, but one glance across the felt and the universe had other plans. What begins as trash talk and $5 racks quickly becomes hours of real conversation, the kind that feels like you’ve known someone forever.
From there, the coincidences get even wilder—Seattle, the same date, two separate bookings that collide into something cosmic. Mitch shares how a lifelong bachelor at 40 suddenly finds himself reshaping every instinct, every habit, and every definition of responsibility. And then comes the biggest shift of all: Nikki, Ewa’s five-year-old daughter, meeting Mitch for the first time and delivering a line that still defines their relationship decades later.
This episode also offers a fascinating window into Ewa’s rise beyond the arena—from her dominance in 1990 to the media explosion that followed, including the iconic New York Times Magazine cover—and what it felt like for Mitch to step into a world he barely understood… until he was living inside it.
And just when you think the story can’t take another turn, Mitch explains how he went from “I don’t play pool” to becoming the voice guiding ESPN’s first WPBA telecasts—thanks to one unforgettable, profane push at exactly the right moment.
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Music by Lyrium.
About
"Legends of the Cue" is a pool history podcast featuring interviews with Pool Hall of Fame members, winners of major championships and other people of influence in and around pocket billiards. We also plan to highlight memorable pool brands, events and venues. Focusing on the positive aspects of the sport, we aim to create and provide an engaging and timeless repository of content that listeners can enjoy now and forever. Co-hosted by WPA and BCA Hall of Fame member Allison Fisher, Mosconi Cup player and captain Mark Wilson, our podcast focuses on telling the life stories of pool's greatest, in their voices. Join Allison, Mark and Mike Gonzalez for “Legends of the Cue.”
Actor, Sports Broadcaster
Mitch Laurance is one of cue sports’ most recognizable and trusted voices, an entertainer, storyteller, and broadcaster whose career has traveled an uncommon path from legendary television comedy to the pressure-packed arena of championship billiards. He’s the kind of presence audiences immediately feel: warm, quick-witted, and steady when the moment gets big. And whether he’s calling a final rack under bright lights or swapping stories about the personalities who shaped the game, Mitch has built a reputation on one essential skill, making people care.
Long before pool fans knew him from the booth, Mitch was developing the instincts of a live performer in the most demanding classroom imaginable: "Saturday Night Live". In the show’s formative years, he worked inside that famously fast, chaotic, and relentlessly creative environment, learning firsthand how timing, preparation, and teamwork turn a rough idea into something electric. Those early experiences weren’t just a résumé line, they became a professional foundation. Mitch has often reflected on what it means to operate under pressure with a clock running, an audience waiting, and no margin for hesitation. It’s a mindset that later translated seamlessly into live sports television, where a single shot can flip the story, and a broadcaster has to be ready to capture it in real time.
That blend of performance and discipline carried Mitch into a full on-camera career. After moving to Los Angeles, he worked his way into television roles, earning early credits that opened the door to a long run of…Read More