When you graduate, you often think you’ll never see your college friends again. But that is far from the truth for members of the GISHGAB improv group in Chicago.
GISHGAB Improv! is a Chicago improv group made up of Millikin alumni from the on-campus improv group, Math Club.
GISHGAB was created 2 years ago by Zach Scott ‘23 and Cole Hintz ‘23, who were co-presidents of the Math Club during their time at Millikin.
As co-presidents, Hintz and Scott restructured Math Club after the pandemic.
“[In] my junior year, Cole and I had the opportunity to become co-presidents, and we did and wanted more structure and to perform far more frequently,” Scott said. “We expanded the repertoire of short-form games that we have to play in shows and in rehearsals.”
After the restructuring, Math Club became more serious and wanted to become a group that did improv, practiced to get better, and performed well.
Rehearsals became longer, and the group hung out more frequently. They even started traditions such as going to Yoders, a restaurant in Arthur, IL.
Simultaneously, the group got more recognition and a reputation on campus, and the shows were more anticipated.
They didn’t know it yet, but this experience would aid them post-graduation with creating GISHGAB.
Several of the spring ‘23 graduates moved to Chicago to find career opportunities. With many recent Millikin graduates now in Chicago, they found that there was already a network of people who were friends and enjoyed doing improv together.
Scott and Hintz began GISHGAB by utilizing their network and invited former Math Club peers to join.
The initial group consisted of Holly Bender ’22 (who founded Classic Case Productions Sketch Comedy a year prior), Austin Tipton ‘22, Chloe Fisher ‘22, Geovanny Tapia ‘22, and Michael J. Santos ‘22.
Hintz and Scott reached out to their group of peers and said, ‘Hey, should we make an improv troupe here and keep this good thing going?’ and from there, the group started performing together.
“[Hintz] and I were relatively new to living in Chicago, and we were looking for performance opportunities because so far, we had been unsuccessful, and we decided to create our own performance opportunity, and we thought the best way to do that would be to reach out to old friends that we had already done improv with,” Scott said. “Reaching out gave us the opportunity to not only reconnect with people but also perform again with people we already felt very comfortable with. We were able to make our own performance opportunities.”
A few months later, newly graduated Sophie Nicholson ‘24 was invited to join the group.
“When I moved [to Chicago], all of these people knew each other, and it became a network between classes,” Nicholson said. “I got to know them, and now we’re all really close friends that don’t just do improv together. We’re really just doing it for the love of performance and improv and each other.”
Math Club was an outlet for Nicholson at Millikin. The beginning of Nicholson’s college experience was at the height of the pandemic, and in a time of social distancing and isolation, Math Club was there for her.
“It was a lonely time to be on campus,” Nicholson said. “When I auditioned for Math Club, that was a real lifeline for me. It gave me space where I was able to go and see people, joke, and be with them… It was the same thing when I moved to Chicago, and the fact that there was a group here ready to welcome me is very meaningful.”
This outlet became much larger than a college extracurricular for Nicholson. Now it’s a way to stay connected to Millikin alumni and an outlet for fun post-graduation.
GISHGAB rehearsals started in members’ Chicago apartments until they eventually rented and performed at Bughouse Theater, a small, non-profit theater made up of a collection of performers in northern Chicago.
Since then, they’ve performed at The iO Chicago Theater as openers for other improv groups, and this past December, they performed at Midwest FurFest 2025. At the convention, they performed in front of about 60 attendees.
At FurFest, GISHGAB performed a 45-minute set.
“We had a lot of fun,” Nicholson said. “We had a lot of people come up to us after the show and say they loved it… They said that they could tell that we were all really having fun together, and we all just have really good chemistry because we’re good friends. And that’s true. The longer we’ve been doing this together, the closer we’ve gotten. These really are some of my best friends in Chicago.”
Strong friendship and chemistry among members have contributed to the success of the troupe. Julia Mlynowski ‘23 shares the same sentiment.
“GISHGAB wasn’t as close in the beginning, but I’m way closer to them [now] than I was at Millikin,” she said. “As we’ve been putting on shows, we’ve become super tight-knit. I think what makes us stand out from other improv groups in Chicago is that we have a strong friendship [where] we enjoy hanging out.”
Mlynowski reflects on the testament of friendship since being a part of GISHGAB.
“Always keep in contact with people you think are cool and people that you enjoy their work from, even if it’s peers outside [of your discipline],” she said. “I’ve grown closer to the group now as an adult post-Millikin than at Millikin.”
The group’s identity is grounded in long-standing friendships, mutual support, and a shared understanding that improv is at its best when it’s fun, low-stakes, and deeply collaborative.
At the same time, their experiences in Chicago’s wider improv scene highlight the value of welcoming performance spaces.
The group name “GISHGAB” might turn some heads as well as it is a confusing same upon first look.
The name, GISHGAB originated from an old comedy bit the group had.
“GISHGAB… stands for ‘Grandpa, I Said Howdy, Grandpa. Grandpa’s hearing aids are broken.'” Nicholson said.
It was part of an early “grandpa” gimmick for the troupe, a goofy nonsense premise they’ve since outgrown, but the name stuck. It’s considered a quirky, memorable title the group kept because people already knew them and it’s part of their identity
GISHGAB positions itself as “working-class” improv: rooted in genuine connection, affordable shows, and an audience who simply want to have a good time.
Ultimately, what makes this improv troupe unique isn’t just what happens on stage, or their name, but the relationships and values that sustain it offstage.
Make sure to follow the troupe on Instagram to keep up with shows and events: @gish.improv
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