Trigriluzole With Nivolumab and Pembrolizumab in Treating Patients With Metastatic or Unresectable Solid Malignancies or Lymphoma

Inclusion Criteria: * Patients must have histologically confirmed solid malignancy or lymphoma that is metastatic or unresectable * There is reasonable expectation of response to pembrolizumab or nivolumab, and one of the drugs is available from the commercial supply; this includes (but is not limited to) the following tumor types: melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer, renal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, bladder cancer, and classic Hodgkin lymphoma * The patient must have failed at least one line of standard treatment, with the following exceptions in which a PD-1 antibody is Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved in the first-line setting: * Melanoma patients * Non-small cell lung cancer patients without EGFR or ALK genomic tumor aberrations whose tumors have high PD-L1 expression (tumor proportion score \[TPS\] \>= 50%) as determined by an FDA-approved test * Patients must give informed consent * Prior chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiotherapy or major surgery (including radiation therapy or surgery for treatment of brain metastases) must be completed at least 3 weeks before study entry; prior PD-1 or PD-L1 therapy is acceptable * Patients must have an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status =\< 2 * Hemoglobin \> 8.0 mg/dL (without transfusion in the preceding 7 days) * Platelets \>= 70,000 /uL * Total bilirubin within normal institutional limits (patients with Gilbert's syndrome must have a total bilirubin \< …